I Used To Be Disgusted, Now I Try To Be Amused

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Talk about inflation...

In my last post, I wrote about Ampyra, an oral drug that was recently approved by the FDA to treat MS. This drug does nothing to treat the Multiple Sclerosis disease process itself, but is meant to increase muscle strength and mobility, and provide some symptom relief for MS sufferers. In trials, Ampyra helped 35% of test subjects taking it increase their walking speed by 25% (in timed 25 foot walks).

Ampyra is basically the same exact drug as a much older compound called 4-AP, in a time released form. 4-AP has been available for years from compounding pharmacies, and can be compounded in a time released capsule.

When purchased from a compounding pharmacy, 4-AP costs something around 30 bucks a month, if I remember correctly.

Now that the drug has been renamed, patented, and marketed by the pharmaceutical company Acorda Therapeutics, the wholesale price of Ampyra, which was announced today, will be $1056 for a 30 day supply, or little more than 1000 bucks a month more than good old 4-AP...

When I first read that price, my eyes nearly fell out.

Can I get a "Holy Shit"?...

UPDATE: received this comment from a reader who was in the Ampyra trials. Turns out I may be wrong about the drug being similar in effectiveness to 4-AP:

Fampridine (the name used for the drug while it was undergoing trials) is not the same as 4-AP SR, no matter how similar they sound. I was on the trial, and it works as least twice as well--my improvements in mobility, walking, balance, cognition, muscle strength, everything, were twice as good as the effects of 4-AP SR, which I have also used. Ampyra is worth it for me, no matter what the cost, which of course is huge, but I will try to afford the co-pay no matter what.

I certainly hope this reader is correct. A drug that effectively treats the range of MS symptoms reflected in the above comment will be quite welcome, indeed. As with all of the other MS drugs, I suspect it's effectiveness will vary widely from patient to patient...

Please, Check Your Meds!

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As a patient dealing with chronic illness, I regularly visit a number of doctors, each of whom prescribes for me a variety of pharmaceutical concoctions. Along with my primary neurologist, I see a primary care physician, a urologist, a neuro ophthalmologist, an endocrinologist, and a pain management specialist. Each of these MDs makes good use of their prescription pads, and subsequently I have enough pharmaceuticals in my bathroom to open my own apothecary.

I'm sure this delights the hell out of the big pharmaceutical companies, who rival insurance companies and the New York Yankees on my list of most detested entities on Earth (one of these days, I'll post a long and barely coherent rant about Big Pharma and its rancid influence on the healing professions), but it's left me with literally handfuls of pills to take each day.

As I'm chugging down these little vessels of wonderfulness, in their dizzying array of different shapes, sizes, and colors, I often wonder if they might be doing me more harm than good. I mean, here I am, in possession of a finely balanced symphony of physiology, a body that has taken millions of years of evolution to develop, and I'm two or three times daily ingesting substances that profoundly manipulate the workings of many of its systems. Of course, in my case, evolution as provided me with a body that probably should have been recalled, but that's besides the point. A little research into many pharmaceuticals reveals that their mechanisms of action are poorly understood, other than the fact that they appear to work. Kind of like magic; here's a quarter, now it's gone, except it's not really gone, now is it?

On their own, each of the pills we take may be beneficial, or at least not harmful, but when taken in addition to other medications, serious consequences can result. Drug interactions are a significant cause of death in this country, and as responsible patients we shouldn't rely on our doctors to keep track of each and every prescription that has been given to us.

There is a terrific website, provided by drugs.com, which allows you to enter the names of all of the prescription medications you're taking, and then alerts you to any possible problems with drug interactions. The site even allows you to save your list of drugs, so you can add to it the next time you're given a prescription. I urge everybody reading this post to please, please visit this website and check your medications. I did so yesterday, and was alerted to a possibly severe interaction between two of the drugs I'm currently taking.

So, if not for yourself, do it for the Wheelchair Kamikaze. I can't afford to lose any readers. Click this link and check all of your medications.

Really, do it now.