ACTH Price Increase

An important issue has come to my attention that I would like to address. Questcor, the makers of HP Acthar (the medication Paige and Bree were on for 8 weeks to treat their seizures) has made a press release announcing the new price of their product. Prior to this, the girls medication was $2000.00 per vial - we needed 10 vials to cover their treatment. After insurance paid their portion we were left with a $5000.00 bill. Questcor has announced they will be charging $23,269.00 a vial. If, and that's a big if, our insurance would cover such an expense we would be in debt $40,000.00. Most likely our insurance would want nothing to do with such an expensive medicine and we would be left with a $240,000.00 bill. Acthar is an Orphan drug, meaning no one else has the right to produce the same medication. There are other treatments availible for IS but none of them have been approved by the FDA, which leaves us to make a choice to have a drug sent from Canada. Questcor claims it has assisstance programs but how can they expect people to pay off tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's unfair to everyone involved but most importantly to our children. My support group through Yahoo! is doing everything we can to spread the word on this topic. I have contacted WESH 2 news and the Daytona News Journal in hopes that they will cover this story and help raise awarness for Infantile Spasms and Questcor blantant attempts at profittering. I have also sent an email to our State Senator, Mr. Mel Martinez. I'm asking all of you to show your support for Paige and Bree and all their friends with Infantile Spasms and tell him about the effect this increase will have on everyone.

Here is the link to Senator Martinez's website. Just click on the link below and it will take you right to his contact form. Enter all your info and share your story. Thank you to everyone for your support.

http://martinez.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactInformation.Con...

Here is the link to Questcor and their press release. Click on "Latest News"

http://www.questcor.com/