3 ms·
Clear skin is the least of the problems with psoriasis. From their website: Bimzelx, alone or in combination with methotrexate, is indicated for the treatm
by zdragnar 2y ago
Clear skin is the least of the problems with psoriasis. From their website:
Bimzelx, alone or in combination with methotrexate, is indicated for the treatment of active psoriatic arthritis in adults who have had an inadequate response or who have been intolerant to one or more disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs).
In other words, it's for people with bad cases who don't respond well to other drugs. Keep in mind, other drugs often come with serious complications- constant use of topical steroids will thin your skin, and give you glaucoma if you develop it and use them near your eyes. Many biologics have even worse potential side effects.
On top of that, psoriatic arthritis is degenerative, if you're unlucky enough to get that too, so not treating it means not only constant pain, constant threat of skin infections from scabbing, but permanent joint damage.
I ended up on Taltz, another very expensive biologic, but the eli lily foundation covered almost all of the cost since my insurance wouldn't. Before then, I looked like an alcoholic, because my nose was constantly red and inflamed, and I didn't have anything safe to put on it- glaucoma runs in my family, and I wasn't brave enough to risk anything strong enough.
If that was the only problem, I might not have even gone the route of Taltz, but I was also developing it all over my body, and there wasn't much that was helping.
- AlbertCory 2y agoThanks. I finally realized I was seeing this ad constantly and decided to look into it.
- zdragnar 2y agoIt may not qualify as a life saving drug, but really it ought to be. The long-term quality of life with untreated and/or resistant psoriatic arthritis is awful. Also, biologic drugs are money printing machines if they survive the FDA approval process, as they can manage the symptoms but the disease itself is incurable. Since they are brand new, they need promotion to raise awareness, and they pay for themselves after a few years. Given all of that, irritating as they may be, the major ad spends make a lot of sense.
- AlbertCory 2y agoI mute the commercials anyway, so I wouldn't call them "irritating." They're no worse than the Toyota lady in red. Looking at all the other messages here, it's interesting that they don't emphasize the "horrible, life-threatening" aspects of the disease. It's all happy people enjoying life, now that their skin is clear.
- vostok 2y agoAssuming this is post-Obamacare, do you know why your insurance didn't cover it? I had this simplified model that insurance covers everything once you hit maximum out of pocket and I'd love to learn how that model breaks down in practice.
- maxerickson 2y agoYour insurance has a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) that has a formulary (the list of drugs they cover). Multiple insurers might use the same PBM. New drugs aren't automatically covered, as they haven't necessarily made the calculation that the cost of it justifies using it versus the alternatives. It's intentionally complicated in order to fracture responsibility, avoid paying out claims and extract payment from publicly funded insurers.
- howard941 2y agoIf the medication is on the formulary the max out of pocket is usually somewhere around $12K. It's not capped if it's not on the formulary. And fancy new drugs are often off the list.
- lotsofpulp 2y agoThe insurer is supposed to cover everything, as long as it is justified by the prevailing evidence and there is no alternative treatment. However, you may have to fight for it. https://www.healthcare.gov/appeal-insurance-company-decision/appeals/ https://www.healthcare.gov/appeal-insurance-company-decision...
- zdragnar 2y agoMy insurer wanted me to try a different, older biologic first. My dermatologist recommended going with Taltz instead because - the eli lily foundation pays for it anyway - the older biologics have far more serious side effects profiles Given that, it was kindof a no-brainer. I would have needed to go through the foundation anyway, since the co-pays on these drugs are insane regardless.
- zdragnar 2y ago