http://kdvr.com/2018/03/19/mother-says-daughters-critical-drug-is-at-risk-because-of-dispute-between-pharmacy-and-pharmaceutical-company/
DENVER —
The mother of a child with a double lung transplant said she is worried that accessing a critical drug for her daughter’s care will be challenging if the drug’s manufacturer and Walgreens do not reach an agreement on a contract.
Jenna Parker’s daughter Portia Opichka received a double lung transplant two years ago.
Now, Portia is on 17 medications and Parker said the most critical is immunosuppressant Prograf.
Parker said she called to request a refill at the Walgreens at Children’s Hospital Colorado and was told the prescription could not be filled after April 1.
Parker said she was told by a pharmacist that Walgreens and the drug’s manufacturer, Astellas Pharma U.S., have not been able to reach an agreement on a new contract so it’ll expire at midnight March 31.
“This is probably one of the biggest hurdles I have had to face because this is the most important drug these kids can be on,” Parker said.
Parker said the Walgreens at Children’s Hospital Colorado is the only pharmacy in the Denver area that carries Prograf and can compound it, the process of turning the pill into a liquid form that can be inserted into Portia’s feeding tube.
“This is a very serious situation,” Parker said.
If the companies can’t reach an agreement, Parker said she’ll have to have the medication flown in from out of state.
She worries about the reliability of this option as well as making sure Medicaid will cover the out-of-state medication.
“Why would I want to rely on an airplane to deliver her life-saving medicines on time? My heart can’t deal with that, that’s too stressful,” Parker said.
“Astellas cares about the patients who need our products,” Astellas Pharma U.S. said in a statement.
“We are unaware of any business dispute with this retailer. Retailers make their own decisions about which products to carry.”
Walgreens could not be reached for comment.
Filed under: General Problems
Medicaid is not going to pay for this drug to be flown in. This mom needs to contact a local television station and a local newspaper. She also needs to call the Pharmacy Manager and tell him what the manufacturer told her. Then she needs to call the corporate office and alert them to the situation. She needs to tell the Pharmacy Manager and corporate office she is contacting the new media outlets if the problem is not resolved in 24 hours.
Walgreens or Astellas is lying. Maybe Medicaid cut what they pay for the drug or the compounding.
I had another thought on this conundrum, maybe har daughter could use the sublingual form of this medication or the immediate release capsule may be opened, mixed with water the put down the feeding tube but of course the doctor will have to be consulted.
Can the transplant team help this lady? Where is the help and follow up care, surely they don’t want the transplant to fail? Can she call the company handeling the Medicaid for her state? Can she call the state Attorney General for help with this? Maybe there is an I-Team news in her area who will investigate the story, I’ve seen problems solved this way when people aren’t able to get results themselves and hold someone accountable. Sorry, just trying to brainstorm…Can you follow up on this story please?
Our country is practically a third world country nowadays. Spending millions of dollars on a lung transplant and then the kid can’t get the medication to keep her alive. Now that makes perfect sense. I’m being sarcastic and can’t figure it out.