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Friday, August 29, 2008

Pick-Up Lines

I guess I'm old-fashioned; I like going to the pharmacy to pick up my prescriptions. I use two local pharmacies; I have favorite clerks at each one. They know who I am, and I guess that's flattering - or it's reflective of the number of prescriptions I've had filled in the last 8 years. Having grown up in the country, where we generally only went to the grocery on Saturdays, I find it useful to have an occasional excuse to go into town when I might not otherwise be going. It doesn't hurt either that the pastry shop is on the same street as both pharmacies.

My Nexavar comes by mail through my insurance company. Every month I get a call reminding me that I need to refill it, and they carefully schedule the delivery. I find that rather amusing on two counts: I'm usually home during the day so I'm not likely to miss it; and FedEx doesn't come to the door to deliver it to me. At least they do drive down that long lane and drop it off at the house, rather than leaving it at the mailbox.

If I chose to go to another pharmacy I would pay full price for Nexavar, and that would empty the coffers pretty quickly. The drug is expensive, though not the most expensive one on the market these days. There's probably a price break (hmmm, Nexavar in bulk? - scary thought; I wonder how many of their customers need Nexavar) and, by requiring that I get it through their specialty pharmacy, the insurance company is able to realize that price break on all the absorbed costs. I certainly won't complain about getting this drug on a co-pay when it could brook total financial disaster otherwise.

My local pharmacies don't have Nexavar on their purchase lists, or at least they didn't when I started my prescription in 2006. It would be a hassle for them to get it just for me, aside from the cost that would be passed on. On the whole this arrangement works well.

We're hoping for rain but the weather isn't cooperating; maybe tonight, maybe sometime next week. I'd sure like to get another cutting of hay off but we need rain for that to happen. In the meantime we're planning to complete the hoop structure, cut brush in the woods, and squeeze in a picnic over the holiday weekend. Happy (and safe) Labor Day to all!

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2 Comments:

  • Wanted to add some info to your post.
    Your local pharmacy is not carrying Nexavar because Bayer (manufacturer of Nexavar) has the medication on, what is called a limited distribution. This means that only specific pharmacys can obtain it and these typically are not local pharamcies.

    I look forward to hearing your response to Nexavar.

    www.cancerrxasssist.com

    By Blogger SPMAN, at 3:30 PM  

  • Thanks for the information. I suspected it was something like that but didn't know for sure. My insurance carrier has limited me to getting it from their specialty pharma group, as I said; not a problem. It does cut out the opportunity to get it from the pharmacy at Cleveland Clinic, which used to be my supplier; but CC isn't local for me so it's not like a run to the corner drugstore!

    By Blogger rcclive, at 11:59 AM  

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