PERT Program

Tip of the Month: February 2006


ACCESSING PHARMACEUTICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS FOR FINANCIALLY NEEDY PATIENTS


Financial assistance — including free drugs — is available to individuals who meet eligibility criteria for patient-assistance programs sponsored by pharmaceutical companies. Although the time and effort involved in getting patients signed up for these benefits can be significant, the results can be very advantageous for needy patients.

In the struggle to provide the best balance of pain relief to side effects, it is often necessary to switch to a second or third line analgesic medication. Unfortunately, some of the drugs that may be the best fit for the patient may not be covered by their insurance carrier. More and more often, we are seeing the need to access financial assistance programs for our patients on multi-modal analgesic regimens.

Patients who sign up for the Medicare Rx Benefit will likely not be eligible for drug company financial assistance programs. The Office of the Inspector General has concluded that allowing drug companies to subsidize their own products that are payable by Medicare Part D poses a risk of fraud and abuse. Contact the companies by phone if you have questions about how Medicare Part D affects a specific program.

The following list provides information specific to individual analgesic drugs, followed by several links that are updated frequently that offer much broader lists of pharmaceutical patient assistance programs.

Pfizer (Connection to Care Program) has a program for financial assistance for
  • gabapentin (Neurontin®)
  • celecoxib (Celebrex®)
  • pregabalin (Lyrica®)
Contact:
Pfizer
PO Box 66585
St. Louis, MO 63166-6585
(800) 707-8990

Website:
http://www.pfizer.com/pfizer/subsites/philanthropy/access/connection.care.applications.jsp


Eli Lilly (Lilly Cares Program) has a program for financial assistance for
  • duloxetine (Cymbalta®)
Contact:
Lilly Cares
PO Box 230999
Centerville, VA 20120
(800) 545-6962

Website:
http://www.lillycares.com/index.jsp


Endo Pharmaceuticals has a patient assistance program for
  • lidocaine patches (Lidoderm®)
Contact:
Endo Pharmaceuticals
PO Box 66761
St. Louis, MO 63166
(866) 824-4747

Website:
https://www.pparx.org/ViewProgramDetails.php?program_id=121

which includes an online application.


Purdue Pharma has a patient assistance program. Their drugs include
  • oxycodone (Oxycontin®, OxyIR®, OxyFast®)
  • morphine (MSIR®, MS Contin®)
They do not currently have a website for the program but they do have a toll free phone number.

Contact:
Purdue Frederick Patient Assistance Program
PO Box 66547
St Louis, MO 63166-6547
(800) 599-6070


Johnson & Johnson has a patient assistance program for
  • transdermal fentanyl (Duragesic®)
Contact:
Johnson & Johnson Patient Assistance Program
PO Box 221857
Charlotte, NC 28222-1857
(800) 652-6227

Website:
https://www.pparx.org/ViewProgramDetails.php?program_id=33

which includes an online application.


Alpharma Pharmaceuticals has a patient assistance program for
  • long acting morphine (Kadian®)
They do not currently have a website for the program.

Contact:
Alpharma Pharmaceuticals
PO Box 66554
St. Louis, MO 63166
(866) 884-5907



Other Good General Information Sites on Patient Assistance Programs for Medications: