Promacta Treatment

Im not understanding why I havent read more on people taking Promacta its essential one pill a day and although it is not a cure it feels like it..I take 25 mg -50 mg..very little side effects..it is costly though..insur pays about $5K amonth...so could i get a little feed back on this. my Plat count can range 75-150 depending how much i want to take.

Krisy,

I am on Promacta and I know of two other people on here that are on it as well. It works really well for me. It holds my counts between 70-125. I've actually dropped from .50 to .25. I was on Nplate previously. It was getting really annoying getting weekly checks and shots and I was so achy. I don't feel any side effects on it either.

The only times I know I crash even on it is when I am sick ( I am fighting a cold now and def feel like my counts are down.) in many ways I do feel like it is a miracle drug. I do not respond to steroids, Rituxin, and stopped responding to IVGs.i felt like I was living at the doctor for about a year and it wasn't easy at 28. I feel like I have gotten my life back and am in a much better place mentally. I do hope to one day go into remission.

I had no problem with blue cross blue shield insurance. My copays were 50 bucks a month. However, my company switched insurances in November and it was a huge fight to get united to cover it. I ended up having to pay 2500 for a few weeks supply until my doctor got them to cover it. My copay is now 250 a month, but I qualified for GSK copay assistance, so I pay $75 a month.

There are numerous posts here about Promacta.
Bear in mind that one person's experience with it isn't necessarily everyone's experience.
For some people, it does little or nothing at all. For others, it works well.

I took it for 3 years and it kept me in the 50k range as advertised. My insurance at that time paid all but an $80 monthly co-pay.
My current BCBS insurance wants $4,500 up-front annual max-out-of-pocket payment for Promacta, plus my hematologist and I would have to jump through an astounding array of hoops.
No thank you. I have many other things to do with that $4,500 annually.

I currently take generic Cellcept at $10 a month co-pay. That keeps me in the 12k-20k range.
After many years of treatment, My hematologist and I know that is safe for me.

FWIW: Be careful about lumping everyone with ITP together. One size does not fit all.
There can be an infinite variety of causes, symptoms, and safe levels. We are all different.


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