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Posted on Tuesday, Oct 25, 2011

Pharmaceutical Companies Can Defray Costs for Mesothelioma Patients

When facing a diagnosis of mesothelioma, patients are bombarded by issues such as where they should go for treatment, what type of treatment they will need, and whether they should believe the prognosis they were just given.  However, in the midst of a recession and with the rising costs of cancer treatment, patients are now faced with the stark reality that they have to look closely at their financials first.  Many are also finding that they may not be able to afford to battle mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma is a rare, aggressive cancer that typically involves a multi-modal treatment strategy.  Patients may undergo surgery, followed by radiation and chemotherapy, in order to manage the symptoms and help control the cancer growth.  Treatments can be expensive, and rarely is the total cost covered by insurance.

Managing the associated health care costs for mesothelioma is one of the major concerns of mesothelioma patients.  Some patients are forced to end treatments early due to their inability to afford further care.  Others continue to build debt until they are left wondering how they will cover the bills. 

Pharmaceutical Company Support
In order to help patients complete their treatments, virtually all of the major chemotherapy drug companies offer some form of financial support to their patients.  Realizing that the treatment costs can be prohibitive to recovery for some patients, the companies are extending various types of aid to ease the burden of the health care expenses. 

Programs offer support including providing patients with assistance in filing insurance claims, negotiating with insurance companies, offering financial resource information as well as providing reimbursement to the patients for un-covered expenses.

Eli Lilly’s PatientOne
Eli Lilly, the maker of both Alimta and Gemzar used in the treatment of mesothelioma and lung cancer, offers PatientOne.  PatientOne is Lilly’s “oncology program that addresses financial, access, and claim issues for patients who are candidates for Lilly’s oncology products.”  The program is aimed at assisting insured, uninsured and underinsured patients in processing claims, receiving payment support, and in assisting physicians with insurance and pharmaceutical issues. 

Bristol-Myers Squibb Assistance Programs
The Bristol-Myers Squibb Patient Assistance Foundation Inc. is a nonprofit organization that helps qualifying patients with prescription drug coverage.  Bristol-Myers is the maker of Platinol, generically known as Cisplatin, one of the primary chemotherapy drugs used in the treatment of malignant mesothelioma. 

Bristol-Myers offers support to patients with financial hardship and has various programs including the Destination Access Program aimed at assisting cancer patients. Patients without insurance coverage may be eligible to receive their medicine for free, while insured patients are offered a variety of reimbursement services including benefits investigation, prior authorization assistance and appeals assistance.

Pfizer First Resource
Providing patients with assistance in gaining access to the medicines they need, First Resource helps patients with alternate funding assistance as well as support in filing claims and appeals with their insurance companies. 

Pfizer offers various chemotherapy treatments, and specifically provides assistance to patients using Ellence (epirubicin hydrochloride) or Xalkori (critzotinib) for the treatment of their mesothelioma.

Contact Companies for Further Information
Each of the companies have enrollment requirements, and not all patients are eligible for the assistance offered.  If not eligible for the offered program, however, mesothelioma patients may be offered support through partners and government agencies.