Multiple Sclerosis: Patient Assistance Programs
- Friday, August 7, 2009, 10:11
- Multiple Sclerosis
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- Dick:
- We are going to move to the portion of our program now where we invite our listeners to ask questions of our experts. An e-mail question first from Sharon in Michigan. “You have mentioned the different pharmaceutical companies have different patient assistance programs. Can you tell me more about them and about what they cover and who is eligible for this kind of coverage?” I think, Dr. Frohman, you had mentioned some of those.
- Dr. Frohman:
- Each of the respective biopharmaceutical companies do have contact lines where patients can call in and speak with a staff member, usually somebody who is handling these particular kinds of questions. What will happen is that these companies will take a look at some personal information from these patients. Oftentimes they may have questions about coverage for these medications. And then the companies do have assistance programs that are typically based on financial need. I think it’s useful to contact the companies and these organizations and get information in terms of what resources are available. They all do an excellent job at setting up these systems. There really have been very strong attempts by all the companies to provide broader access and easier access to these patients. They realize that this is a huge challenge. They all have Web sites that provide very useful information about the drugs, side effects, and issues related to drug coverage.
- Dick:
- So patients can contact them via the Internet or there are probably some 800 numbers?
- Dr. Frohman:
- Every one of them has an 800 number available.
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