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Oral Meds vs. Injectables...

Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:56 pm
by 2gentle
Hi all,

I'm sure most of us are keeping our fingers crossed for an oral med, instead of the injectables we now use. And since most patents are soon to expire for the meds we now have....

This brings up several questions I think....
1. who will authorize the "switch" to an oral, and

2.if those with no insurance are on an injectable, will they be allowed to switch?

3. What about syringes , alcohol swabs, etc, will we revert to the old system of mixing the drug ourselves as we did with Copaxone? Will we be required to purchase the above once the patent expires?

4. Since betaseron is set to preview the "generic" version in 2009, will YOU trust a generic version??

I know there are a lot of questions, but I'm just wondering what everyone else thinks about the ones I've asked.

Diane

Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 8:39 pm
by scoobyjude
Wow Diane, I've been anxious for an oral med but I guess I haven't really thought about these questions. I would assume that the doctor would authorize the switch to an oral med. My neurologist told me that he will only switch a patient if they really want it because he feels no need to make a change if they're doing well on the injectable. I have already expressed that I am interested when it's available but he really doesn't agree with switching because I am doing fairly well on Rebif.

As far as those without insurance, I would think they would be switched to the oral med since it is bound to be much less expensive.

I'm really not sure about the other questions but I'd hope that after the patents expire we wouldn't go back to having to mix our own meds. That seems like a needless step back. Also, I do think I'd trust a generic. I trust generic for most of the other medications I take.

Those are just my thoughts. Judie