Does anyone know why Lupron and/or Zoladex are still so expensive?

My husband has been taking Lupron shots for prostate cancer for 8 years - off and on. Why is Lupron still so terribly expensive if it has been around this long? In the states, the cost was over $2,000 for a three month shot. Now, we live in Mexico and learned about Zoladex (Soladex) available here for $700 for a three month shot for basically the same thing. Even $700 is riduculously expensive. Are the drug companies trying to add to the misery of having cancer by financially ruining those unfortunates?
Answer:
A great deal of Takeda Abbott's overall income comes from the sale of Lupron, thereby making it one of the most lucrative drugs in the world (this is even despite the record $875million fines they had to pay out under the federal RICO statutes for fraudulent pricing schemes and doctor kickbacks). It also is pricey due in part to the fact that TAP has had a lock-up on the patent until very recently, which did not allow for generic Leuprolide sales until the immediate past few years. TAP (a joint venture between the US-based Abbott Pharma and Japan's Takeda Corp.) also has a chokehold on the GnRH market around the globe.

Zoladex, on the other hand, is a Goserelin implant made by AstraZeneca, which, while it has US holdings and offices around the world, is a United Kingdom corporation whose major product line(s) are not geared towards the GnRH family (in general). So, they are typically a bit cheaper.

In any event, TAP has a Patient Assistance Program which might interest you. It allows for patients to get reduced and even free Lupron depending on their circumstances. Call 800-830-1015 and ask for the Lupron assistance program for more info.

Also - see if you can obtain Viadur in place of the Leuprolide. It might cost much less. See http://www.viadur.com/about/answers.htm... for more info.

Hope that helps.

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Because the makers of those products are paying companies of the generic brands to keep their products off the market for certain lengths of time. Sometimes many, many years.

On top of it - What additional funding B Clinton authorised for the research companies, Bush has stripped it away.

Sucks doesn't it?

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