A prime example of whats wrong with Pharma (Gardasil)

Feb/03/2007 05:56 Filed in: Pharma Business
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Gardasil is getting used less than doctors would like. Pediatricians and gynecologists from Arizona to New York are refusing to stock Gardasil because of its $360 price for the three doses required and "totally inadequate" reimbursement from most insurers. Rather than Merck working with physicians and insurers to resolve this problem they are using the standard reply "Merck, which notes Gardasil is covered by 96 percent of insurance plans, recently added Gardasil and its other adult vaccines to its patient assistance program, but only about 800 doses total were given away in the last three months of 2006". This is a prime example of what's wrong with pharma and adds to the public perception that pharma is only in it for the money.


According to CNN:

Many practices must tie up $50,000 or more in vaccine inventory, run multiple refrigerators, insure the vaccines and spend lots of time on inventory management. They also must absorb the cost of broken or wasted vials and say that's not possible with most insurers reimbursing at just $2 to $15 over the $120 per dose charged by Gardasil's developer, Merck & Co. of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey "Doctors are drawing a line in the sand on this. They're either not giving it or requiring a surcharge," said Dr. Daniel Schwartz of Broadway Pediatrics Associates in Westport, New Jersey, which charges patients a $25 surcharge per shot. Dr. Jill Stoller of Chestnut Ridge Pediatric Associates in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, said the inadequate insurance reimbursement for Gardasil is keeping "a wonderful new vaccine" from many patients. "It really is a shame," said Stoller, who also assesses a surcharge

.

Pediatricians and gynecologists at solo and large group private practices contacted by The Associated Press said they would, at best, break even if they stocked the vaccine. Most will give patients a prescription to get filled and bring back, but that could cost patients far more. "I don't know where to turn," said Julie Falco, a Marlboro, New York, elementary school teacher trying to get her 13- and 15-year-old daughters vaccinated. Her pediatrician, Dr. Herschel Lessin told her his 20-doctor Children's Medical Group in Poughkeepsie, New York, can't afford to stock Gardasil. Lessin said insurers paying their executives millions won't give him $25 to cover his costs, but will spend tens of thousands if a patient develops cervical cancer.

His practice will provide prescriptions but warned Falco her insurer might not reimburse her and pharmacies might mark each dose up to $200. Falco then tried her gynecologist, who sent her back to the pediatrician. "I still don't have the shot and now I have to decide whether I want to make a $1,200 investment to get them vaccinated," she said. "I really don't want to deny them what I think is right." Dr. Michael Blum, senior partner in a big pediatric practice in suburban Kansas City, said it only provides Gardasil to patients who pay $450 up front, then tries to get insurance reimbursement for them. Only a half-dozen patients have done so.

Dr. Kathleen Moore of AppleTree Pediatrics in Tyler, Texas, said as a solo practitioner she not only can't stock Gardasil but can't afford it for her own 12- and 13-year-old daughters. When she explains the situation to patients, "they all say 'We'll be happy to wait,' because they can't afford to pay for it either."



What a shame that the company whose founder said

"We try never to forget that medicine is for the people. Not for the profits. The profits follow, and if we have remembered that, they have never failed to appear

". In this case Merck seems to want to put profits ahead of good medicine and that my fellow readers is nothing short of a shame.
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