Cost of Xeloda

herdizziness said:

My last Xeloda
was in May I think, it was $2,900.00 for my 6 pills per day for 14 days, that's cost without insurance, also I believe the manufacturer is Genetech, they do have a program, it's a credit card that can only be used for the purchase of Xeloda which I think is worth about 100.00 if you have insurance coverage to help with the co-pay, if you're on medi-care they cannot help you with the payment, I'm not sure what they do if you don't have any insurance.
Winter Marie

tanstaafl said:

import 90 day supplies?
The primary patent expired, I think you can import, even mail, 90 days worth with a prescription (scripts max at 8 tablets/day) In Asia, generic capecitabine is about $3-4 per 500 mg capecitabine tablet in many countries, even $4-5 per tablet for 500 mg Xeloda tablets.
say 7 tab/day x 14/cycle = 98 tablets/cycle,
98 x $4 each = $392 / 3 week cycle (2 wk on) for 3.5 grams/day

Other price gripes
With FDA enforced monopolies, US drug prices are ridiculous. Today I checked on 25mg generic leucovorin tablets (a cheap B vitamin to manufacture) in the US, quoted $260 for 30 tablets, 750 milligrams total content. A kilo (1,000,000 mg) of leucovorin went for $22 last year. I would prefer oral leucovorin since the gastric system preferentially picks up the optically active levoleucovorin molecule, and infusion doesn't, not to mention the convenience and intrinsic safety aspects, oral vs IV. Doses are limited to oral tolerance but the first few milligrams are the most important for my wife (biomarker response).

keystone said:

xeloda
So can you access these drugs from Asia? If so how? My husband was on 3300mg a day for 6 weeks straight and we paid about 1800.00 (50% co-pay) for a three week supply. I feel the drug worked very well and really wish he had stayed on it instead of 5-FU post surgery. This was ans option but due to the expense went with the 5-FU. Stephanie

Kimo Sabe said:

Xeloda
I would ask your oncologist to call the pharmaceutical representative. Often times they can help to bridge the gap. Were you told by the insurance company of the formulary or did you see it online. Do you have an appeal process?

I know Medicare part B covers it. I checked online and I could find the price of $2500 for two weeks. Does your hospital have a social worker?
If all else fails it may be time to call Michael Moore. Seriously. I think if this doesn't go through, you should make much loud noise. Please keep us posted. Best wishes.

Norm

tanstaafl said:

Consumerism
We need to shine a light on the antics, but I don't think new federal interventions are the real answer. The real problem appears to be the FDA, these situations were started years earlier.

A fourth cause of shortages:
The FDA's failure to approve UFT, a very easy to make generic pill, that should have displaced much IV 5FU use years ago in the US. UFT used well, such as CIM+UFT+PSK, even looks superior to capecitabine in a number of applications such as CA19-9 biomarked stage III CRC, and with leucovorin, some types of stage IV cases.

If the FDA won't allow necessary drugs brought to us, then we as intelligent consumers should go get them ourselves, cheaper and better. And reduce the FDA powers that shorten and interfere with our lives.

have you tried goodrx.com to see what they would cost you? They don't accept insurance, but they can give you a discount if you are paying out of pocket, you just need your prescription

Welcome to the board.  This post is very old and it would be best that you start a new thread on the main board so that others will see it.  I'm sorry that you have to be here, but we can help you through this.  I'd see if your doctor can talk with the insurance company to see if they can get this approved for you.  Sometimes, the doctor's office has a way of working with the insurance companies that it's customer cannot.  Wishing you the best and hoping that you can get an answer.

Kim