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GSK's Offer Still Stands: Drug Maker Maintains Its Drug Giveaways for Low-Income Patients

Posted on: Wednesday, 3 May 2006, 15:01 CDT

By Sabine Vollmer, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

May 3--GlaxoSmithKline has joined a growing list of drug companies that are changing their stances on Medicare drug benefits.

The British drug maker, which has a U.S. headquarters in Research Triangle Park, said Tuesday that elderly and disabled patients eligible for Medicare drug benefits may continue to receive free drugs under its patient assistance programs.

The decision affects about 200,000 patients. GSK had previously said that those patients would not be eligible for free or low-cost drugs after May 15 if they signed up for Medicare's new prescription drug program.

Under Medicare Part D, co-payments can reach thousands of dollars a year if the drugs are expensive and generics aren't available. Patients, fearing that they would have to go off life-saving medication or into debt, rallied at town hall meetings and wrote letters to Congress about the drug companies' plans.

Drug makers began to change their positions a month ago as key U.S. senators pressured the pharmaceutical industry and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to address the problem.

"The Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit is a valuable program for millions of Americans, but we recognize that there are many elderly and disabled low-income patients who need additional help," the president of GSK's Triangle-based U.S. Pharmaceuticals, Chris Viehbacher, said in a prepared statement.

GSK's policy change means that it will continue to provide free drugs to patients not enrolled in Part D. The drug maker also will make exceptions for low-income patients enrolled in Medicare Part D.

Other drug companies that adopted or confirmed similar positions in the past two months include Merck, Abbott Laboratories, Roche and Schering-Plough.

"This is a step in the right direction," said John Coburn, a senior policy analyst with Health and Disability Advocates. The Chicago group advocates for HIV/AIDS patients who feared that they would lose access to patient assistance programs.

Drug makers are still limiting access for low-income patients enrolled in Medicare D. Merck's low-income guideline is an annual income of $19,600 for a patient who is single. Schering-Plough's is about $25,000, and GSK's is about $14,000.

Government resistance

The drug companies are basing their policies on opinions and statements issued by the federal Health and Human Services Department.

In November, the department's fraud and abuse unit said companies that continue to give free medicines to people enrolled in Medicare D might be investigated for violating federal anti-kickback laws. The government feared that drug companies might provide free medicine to steer patients toward more expensive drugs, which would increase Medicare's costs. That's when many drug makers first said they would end their patient assistance programs.

But a second opinion issued in April cleared the way for pharmaceutical companies to keep the programs open to Medicare members.

On Tuesday, GSK submitted a plan to the department's fraud and abuse unit that could enhance Medicare members' limited access to free drug programs. GSK spokeswoman Patty Seif declined to release details of the plan until it is approved.

But patients and advocates applauded GSK's effort.

"That gives me great hope that this issue will be worked out," said Coburn of Health and Disability Advocates.

"It's a miraculous thing," said James Hayes of Boone, a patient with AIDS who receives about $40,000 worth of drugs for free through patient assistance programs. One of them is a GSK drug. "It's a lifesaving thing."

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Copyright (c) 2006, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The News & Observer

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