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Alternate ADT drug shaking things up: Estrogen?
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: 3 days ago | Replies (9)Comment receiving replies
@heavyphil One thing I've found so far, from "Transdermal Estrogen May Offer Another Option for ADT in Men With Metastatic Prostate Cancer "
"Estradiol patches could be particularly attractive to patients who are on an LHRHa and troubled by side effects like hot flashes, Dr. James said. But they also have appeal from a cost standpoint, he added, whether for health systems or, in places like the United States, for patients who lack insurance or are underinsured.
“This sort of repurposing of an older, cheap drug,” Dr. James said, “is an important way to improve outcomes, separate from developing new drugs.”
I'm on Medicare Part D. The records I am sent indicate the US government pays the insurance company $40,000 per year minus a copay I'm insured for, for me to get Orgovyx. Estradiol would cost a tiny fraction of that. But if incoming data proves it should be the standard of care for many or even just some patients, many other jurisdictions will adopt and promote it.
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@climateguy Yes, the NCCN nomograms are the ultimate cookie cutter, but at least there’s some equivocation and questioning going on.
In the normal world your scenario about Estradiol would make sense - let’s use a much, much cheaper drug and more people will be able to afford it, right? And we can even use all that extra $$ we saved to actually treat more patients whose insurance might not be that
good…a total win/win! But unfortunately, it does not work that way.
Big Pharma gives millions and millions of dollars - especially to Institutes of excellence like Sloan Kettering to run pilot programs for their drugs, such as Orgovyx.
My own RO at Sloan was being sponsored by the maker of that very drug. So after all that, do you really think he is going to be allowed to dispense a much cheaper drug that the manufacturer of Orgovyx did not even have a hand in producing? And Big Pharma had already lobbied Medicare to actually pay for these expensive drugs…it’s a mystery how this is allowed to happen. Not complaining, as I was a beneficiary of Orgovyx, but I still had to fork over 2K before it was ‘free’.
It’s Money, Politics and Power in whatever order you prefer.
But Kudos to you for doing your homework and letting your docs know that you had intimate knowledge of Brachy + Boost and you are willing to go elsewhere to get treatment. It really makes a LOT of sense and obviates the need for years on ADT. Best,
Phil