Medicare to Cut Payment for Two Promising Cancer Drugs

As they contain radio active material and must be given in the hospital and it is not inexpensive...$30,000 per treatment....but not good for anyone relying on either treatment plan...BD 

Under the new rules, after Jan. 1, Medicare will reimburse hospitals about $16,000 for each treatment with the drugs, which a patient needs to receive only once. GlaxoSmithKline, which markets Bexxar, say it is priced at almost $30,000 per treatment, and Biogen Idec, which sells Zevalin, says it costs nearly as much. While high, such prices are not unusual for new cancer therapies, which can cost $50,000 or more for a year of treatment.

Senior Medicare officials say they are not trying to prevent hospitals from giving Bexxar and Zevalin. The $16,000 figure is a fair price and is based on the actual prices hospitals have paid for the medicines this year.....Because Bexxar and Zevalin contain radioactive material, the drugs must be administered by specially licensed technicians and doctors. They are usually given in hospitals..

But most other drugs administered via injection in doctors’ offices or hospital outpatient clinics — as Bexxar and Zevalin are — are not reimbursed on the basis of what hospitals say they have paid. Instead, companies report the average price of their drugs to Medicare. Medicare then reimburses doctors and hospitals at that price, plus a 6 percent fee to cover handling costs.

Medicare to Cut Payment for Two Promising Cancer Drugs - New York Times