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@redboat

I think you are right about the costs.

Perhaps the pharmacy is assuming an injection once/month instead of once/week.

The attached pdf is from the Kaiser, and the Actemra cost does look like it is for a single injection. And the Kevzara cost I quoted was actually only for 2 injectsion With this understanding, costs look more like

Actemra = $4641/MONTH

Kevzara = $7853/MONTH

The $15,000 corporate offsets will not go far, about 3.2 months with Actemra and 1.9 month with Kevzara.

Or I could get shots bi-weekly and double these periods.

The studies I saw indicated this reduced effectiveness somewhat though - here's a some quotes from New England J of Medicine study on Actemra:

"A total of 56% of the patients in the group that received tocilizumab weekly and 53% of those in the group that received tocilizumab every other week had sustained remission at 52 weeks."

"The percentages of patients who had a flare were 23% in the group that received tocilizumab weekly, 26% in the group that received tocilizumab every other week"

"The mean increase (indicating clinical improvement) from baseline to week 52 in the SF-36 physical component summary score was 4.10 in the group that received tocilizumab weekly and 2.76 in the group that received tocilizumab every other week, whereas scores decreased (indicating a worse condition) in the two placebo groups..."

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Replies to "I think you are right about the costs. Perhaps the pharmacy is assuming an injection once/month..."

Still not entirely sure my Kevzara costs are right. The treatment regime Solina suggests on their website is based on injections every 2 weeks. I'm surprised they are not trying to match Actemra costs from Genentech, especially since they both offer the same $15K annual offset.

That amount for Actemra sounds about right. I get an infusion every month and they charge an additional $1600 to administer it. I have been able to get totally off prednisone that I have been on for more than four years. I feel so much better. My doctor was able to get it totally paid for by Medicare and my supplement by saying I might also have seronegative RA. She is unsure about that though. However it got the insurances to pay. It is a wonder drug for me! I hope you can find a way to get it paid for.