Provenge users get OK to receive Medicare payment

Provenge Gets Medicare Payment Approval

Provenge, the innovative new drug treatment for prostate cancer, will be paid for by Medicare according to health officials.

Costing $93,000, Provenge has been proven in studies to prolong the survival rate of prostate cancer sufferers by as much as four months. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid has concluded that the drug made by Dendreon Corp. is "reasonable and necessary" to justify the coverage.

Prostate cancer patients whose cancer has spread or metastasized and who has not fared better after receiving radiation and hormone therapy will be eligible to get the Medicare payment.

Provenge is given in three doses of infusion over 30 days. The exact dose is adjusted depending on the immune system of a patient. The drug is an alternative to conventional chemotherapy treatment that attack both malignant and healthy cells and thus have many unwanted side effects.

There are 240,000 cases of prostate cancer diagnosed annually in the country and some 33,000 die from it according to the American Cancer Society.

With the Medicare coverage of Provenge, Dendreon is estimated to generate $1 billion in sales. The drug maker says that the price roughly matches the cost of developing the drug treatment.

Chemotherapy currently adds two months on average to the lifespan of prostate cancer patients but Provenge doubles that with fewer side effects.

The enormous price tag of Provenge has prompted questions  if the government ought to pay for very costly drugs especially in the context of health care reform and the surge of Medicare payments as baby boomers enter retirement.

Posted by George Daniels on Saturday July 02 2011, 4:25 AM EST. Ref: AP. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0