Senators Ask Why Medicare Is Reviewing Provenge

26/08/10

The latest people to object to the recent decision by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to open a National Coverage Analysis of the Provenge prostate cancer vaccine happen to be two US Senators. John Kerry and Arlen Specter, Democrats from Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, respectively, wrote an Aug. 20 letter to the agency questioning the rationale for the review and voicing suspicion the move will lead to restricted coverage.
At issue is the extent to which CMS believes coverage is reasonable and necessary. As noted previously, an NCA is uncommon for new drugs, but CMS officials have ranged from silent to vague in explaining their decision. Although marketed for $93,000, price is not supposed to factor into the analysis. Presumably, the undertaking was prompted by regional …

Original post by Pharmalot and software by Elliott Back

 

No Comments »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.