March of Dimes, Premature Births

[mookie]

http://healthland.time.com/2011/03/10/can-patients-get-around-the-exorbitant-new-cost-of-a-pregnancy-drug/

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41994697/

 

Not sure how widely this will be noticed, but I know there are a lot of family people on here who may find this interesting. After receiving donations from a subsidiary of KV, the March of Dimes lobbied to have the FDA give KV a monopoly on a synthetic progesterone that can prevent premature births. The drug has been used for 50 years for various things, and currently costs less than $500 for treatment for one pregnancy. Now that KV has a monopoly on the drug, they plan to sell it for $1500 per dose, for a total cost of $30,000 per pregnancy. The March of Dimes claims that people who can't afford the drug will be able to get it paid for by Medicaid. So presumably the idea is to gouge the federal government for millions of dollars, and anyone who has a history of premature births and makes too much money to get on Medicaid is just collateral damage.

 

It's good to know that the March of Dimes is looking out for the kids.

 

* In case anyone's wondering, as far as I can tell, the research to determine the effectiveness for preventing premature birth was paid for by the NIH, not KV.

 

But Snow and others said someone is going to have to pay the higher price. Some of the burden will fall on health insurance companies, which will have to raise premiums or other costs to their other customers. And some will fall on cash-strapped state Medicaid programs, which may be forced to stop paying for the drug or enroll fewer people.

 

The March of Dimes, which gets hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding from Ther-Rx, celebrated the approval in a press release, saying if all women eligible for the shots receive them, nearly 10,000 spontaneous premature births could be prevented each year.

 

Some doctors said they were happy getting the cheaper version from compounding pharmacies, and Aetna's Armstrong said she was unaware of any quality concerns.

 

Still, doctors will use the Ther-Rx brand, in part because of legal worries.

 

Not that they have a choice: Last month, KV sent cease-and-desist letters to compounding pharmacies, telling them they could face FDA enforcement actions if they kept making the drug.

Edited March 10, 2011 by mookie