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Gleevec shipping in summer


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#21 tiredblood

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Posted 19 July 2015 - 11:16 AM

I wanted to weigh in because I have never been the beneficiary of little free coolers or ice packs! I feel terribly neglected. My pills have always come in a plain brown box, with plain brown paper inside to keep the bottle from rattling around.

 

I did have a bad moment last winter when my drug delivery was delayed and the pills sat outside in minus many degrees below zero over the weekend. They survived and so did I.

 

Now, about those freebies the rest of you are getting...

My son uses the Styrofoam coolers for target practice with his pellet gun.  I have had the thought that if all shipments came in the coolers, what would I do with them. Can Styrofoam be recycled?  There really is a lot of waste what with the package insert that comes with week-supply of Tasigna, the repeated pages of patient education materials, but I guess it is required.



#22 hannibellemo

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Posted 19 July 2015 - 01:30 PM

I absolutely agree, tiredblood. I have a hard enough time trying to figure out how to get ride of the elevated foam pads I sleep on for reflux and sinus issues. They do wear out every year or so and I have 3 of them in my closet now because I don't know what to do with them!

 

I feel guilty sending them to the landfill. I have a freezer filled with ice packs from Christmas present food shipments and a few coolers from those. And I'm trying to reduce the "things" in my life!


Pat

 

"You can't change the direction of the wind but you can adjust your sails."

DX 12/08; Gleevec 400mg; liver toxicity; Sprycel 100mg.; CCyR 4/10; MMR 8/10; Pleural Effusion 2/12; Sprycel 50mg. Maintaining MMR; 2/15 PCRU; 8/16 drifting in and out of undetected like a wave meeting the shore. Retired 12/23/2016! 18 months of PCRU, most recent at Mayo on 7/25/17 was negative at their new sensitivity reporting of 0.003.<p>


#23 Antilogical

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Posted 19 July 2015 - 05:49 PM

I kept the gift-with-purchase styrofoam coolers & gel-packs for a while - (camping, anyone?) - but never used them so I tossed 'em.  Recently, my insurance company changed specialty drug providers, & the meds now come in a thin white plastic bubble-wrap bag.


Dx: Sudden severe anemia detected 07/2011, followed by WBC spike. CML Dx 02/2012.

Rx: 03/2012-Gleevec400.  Reduced 02/2013 to Gleevec300 due to side effects (low blood counts).

Response: PCR-Und within 7 mo. on G400. Maintained MMR4-MMR4.5 on G300. PCR-Und since 02/2016.


#24 gerry

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Posted 19 July 2015 - 08:34 PM

Hi Pat,

Could they use the cold packs for Meals on Wheels?



#25 Anti-Matter

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Posted 20 July 2015 - 09:26 AM

I'm ordering a Tasigna refill today. It's summer in NY, so I'm hoping for a cooler and ice pack freebie!



#26 tiredblood

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Posted 22 July 2015 - 08:37 PM

I've had great service from CVS Caremark Specialty Pharmacy up until now, but this incident has shown me that the pharmacy has little regard for me as a patient, customer, and human being.  As a nurse, I could never give a patient medication that may not be safe.



#27 Buzzm1

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Posted 22 July 2015 - 08:49 PM

I've had great service from CVS Caremark Specialty Pharmacy up until now, but this incident has shown me that the pharmacy has little regard for me as a patient, customer, and human being.  As a nurse, I could never give a patient medication that may not be safe.

tiredblood, you could always resort to picking up your Rx at the pharmacy during heat waves (as I am forced to do ... picking up my 30-day supply of Gleevec tomorrow).


For the benefit of yourself and others please add your CML history into your Signature

 

02/2010 Gleevec 400mg

2011 Two weakly positives, PCRU, weakly positive

2012 PCRU, PCRU, PCRU, PCRU

2013 PCRU, PCRU, PCRU, weakly positive

2014 PCRU, PCRU, PCRU, PCRU (12/07 began dose reduction w/each continuing PCRU)

2015 300, 250, 200, 150

2016 100, 50/100, 100, 10/17 TFR

2017 01/17 TFR, 04/18 TFR, 07/18 TFR 0.0012, 08/29 TFR 0.001, 10/17 TFR 0.000

2018 01/16 TFR 0.0004 ... next quarterly PCR 04/17

 

At the earliest opportunity, and whenever possible, lower your TKI dosage; TKIs are toxic drugs and the less we take longterm the better off we are going to be ... this is especially true for older adults.  

 

In hindsight I should have started my dosage reduction two years earlier; it might have helped minimize some of the longterm cumulative toxic effects of TKIs that I am beset with.  

 

longterm side-effects Peripheral Artery Disease - legs (it's a bitch); continuing shoulder problems, right elbow inflammation.   GFR and creatinine vastly improved after stopping Gleevec.

 

Cumulative Gleevec dosage estimated at 830 grams

 

Taking Gleevec 400mg an hour after my largest meal of the day helped eliminate the nausea that Gleevec is notorious for.  

 

Trey's CML BlogStopping - The OddsStop Studies - Discussion Forum Cessation Study

Big PhRMA - Medicare Status - Social Security Status - Deficit/Debt


#28 tiredblood

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Posted 22 July 2015 - 09:08 PM

tiredblood, you could always resort to picking up your Rx at the pharmacy during heat waves (as I am forced to do ... picking up my 30-day supply of Gleevec tomorrow).

I didn't know that was an option until yesterday.  Mine is a 90-day supply which I cannot fill at a local pharmacy, but they will ship it to the local pharmacy for me to pick up.  Or..... they could just ice it as they say they do, but.............

 

I'm going to opt for mailing it to the local pharmacy. $28,114.27 is just too costly to treat carelessly.



#29 Buzzm1

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Posted 22 July 2015 - 09:22 PM

I didn't know that was an option until yesterday.  Mine is a 90-day supply which I cannot fill at a local pharmacy, but they will ship it to the local pharmacy for me to pick up.  Or..... they could just ice it as they say they do, but.............

 

I'm going to opt for mailing it to the local pharmacy. $28,114.27 is just too costly to treat carelessly.

at $28,114.27 for a 90-day supply, that would make Tasigna less expensive than Gleevec ($29,613 for a 90-day supply), plus Novartis will likely again increase the price of Gleevec in August.  They've been increasing the price twice a year, at least since 2009, when I first priced it.  The last increase was in Feb.; they're due.


For the benefit of yourself and others please add your CML history into your Signature

 

02/2010 Gleevec 400mg

2011 Two weakly positives, PCRU, weakly positive

2012 PCRU, PCRU, PCRU, PCRU

2013 PCRU, PCRU, PCRU, weakly positive

2014 PCRU, PCRU, PCRU, PCRU (12/07 began dose reduction w/each continuing PCRU)

2015 300, 250, 200, 150

2016 100, 50/100, 100, 10/17 TFR

2017 01/17 TFR, 04/18 TFR, 07/18 TFR 0.0012, 08/29 TFR 0.001, 10/17 TFR 0.000

2018 01/16 TFR 0.0004 ... next quarterly PCR 04/17

 

At the earliest opportunity, and whenever possible, lower your TKI dosage; TKIs are toxic drugs and the less we take longterm the better off we are going to be ... this is especially true for older adults.  

 

In hindsight I should have started my dosage reduction two years earlier; it might have helped minimize some of the longterm cumulative toxic effects of TKIs that I am beset with.  

 

longterm side-effects Peripheral Artery Disease - legs (it's a bitch); continuing shoulder problems, right elbow inflammation.   GFR and creatinine vastly improved after stopping Gleevec.

 

Cumulative Gleevec dosage estimated at 830 grams

 

Taking Gleevec 400mg an hour after my largest meal of the day helped eliminate the nausea that Gleevec is notorious for.  

 

Trey's CML BlogStopping - The OddsStop Studies - Discussion Forum Cessation Study

Big PhRMA - Medicare Status - Social Security Status - Deficit/Debt


#30 tiredblood

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Posted 22 July 2015 - 09:49 PM

at $28,114.27 for a 90-day supply, that would make Tasigna less expensive than Gleevec ($29,613 for a 90-day supply), plus Novartis will likely again increase the price of Gleevec in August.  They've been increasing the price twice a year, at least since 2009, when I first priced it.  The last increase was in Feb.; they're due.

I've been taking it since early December 2013 and I think it started out at $24,000-something.  I think mine has increased in price in about the same increments you mentioned for your Gleevec.  I wonder how the price of Tasigna will be affected when Gleevec goes generic.



#31 chriskuo

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Posted 23 July 2015 - 02:04 AM

Novartis reported this week that its revenues for Tasigna for the last quarter were $412 million, an increase of 21% compared to the prior year. Most of that increase would be due to more new first-line users and switches from Gleevec and to a lesser extent from Sprycel.

So they are getting healthy revenue growth with or without price increases.

#32 Anti-Matter

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Posted 23 July 2015 - 09:19 AM

For the first time I'll be getting my supply from Caremark. So much for a free cooler and icepacks.



#33 DebDoodah22

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Posted 23 July 2015 - 08:50 PM

I was getting the coolers and extravagant packaging from Caremark specialty via FedEx until that wore thin. There were continuous issues with Fedex not leaving the box and then the office being closed, etc. I was worried about that Texas heat issue,too. So, I was able to arrange drop shipments to my local CVS. It's great. I don't need a tracking number. There are fewer phone calls to arrange pick up. The CVS is open till 10 and I know the melds will be handled properly. Check with your provider...although I do wish I had a couple more of those packs, the novelty of that perfect styrofoam box wore off after the third one.




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