Free anti-cancer drugs to be given out

Attorney general Pamela Brown announced yesterday the launching of a free anti-cancer drugs distribution program for needy patients in the Commonwealth.

“The program is part of an antitrust settlement that the CNMI and the other five territories, plus the 50 states, entered with Bristol-Myers Squibb concerning its cancer drug Taxol,” Brown said in the statement.

About 13,000 vials of Taxol, used to treat breast and ovarian cancer, are to be distributed to patients who cannot afford to pay for the drug. The program will expire when the 13,000 vials have been distributed, which Brown said is estimated to last about a year.

The 13,000 vials are estimated to treat between 1,000 to 2,000 patients nationwide. Over 150 institutions nationwide have been accepted to participate in the program.

Brown said the CNMI, along with other plaintiff states and territories, contracted with RxHope Inc. to accept applications from doctors on behalf of their medically indigent patients who have been prescribed Taxol infusions as part of their cancer chemotherapy treatments.

Further, she said RxHope will take applications from doctors, hospitals and other cancer facilities online or through an 800 number since patients cannot apply.

“I am proud that the [NMI] is taking part in this important aspect of our settlement in the Taxol case,” Brown said. “It is vital that everyone with a potentially life-threatening illness be able to receive the medication they need to effectively fight their disease.”

Brown said qualifications for the free drug include patients who are not covered by any public insurance program, such as Medicare or Medicaid; must not have private health insurance that includes coverage for chemotherapy drugs; and must be receiving treatment in the United States at an approved hospital or cancer facility, which the Commonwealth Health Center qualifies as. Others include household income and asset restrictions.

In January 2003, states and territories reached an agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb to settle the charges. A $12 million national consumer fund reimbursed patients who reportedly paid too much for the drug, and $37 million were returned to states to reimburse state agencies that bought the drugs, according to Brown.

Bristol-Myers Squibb was given five years of exclusive marketing rights in 1992 to promote the drug’s active ingredient, paclitaxel, to the general public.

Brown disclosed that Bristol-Myers Squibb allegedly told a congressional committee in 1993 that the active ingredient was not patentable and that near-term generic competition for Taxol is a certainty. Further, the lawsuit alleged that Bristol Myers knowingly manipulated the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office process by fraudulently obtaining patents on a drug that the company testified was not patentable.

Further, the suit alleges the patents prevented generic drug manufacturers from entering the paclitaxel market until 2000, even if Bristol-Myers exclusive rights expired in 1997.

Bristol-Myers had total sales of at least $5.4 billion since 1998. Cost of treatment range between $6,000 to $10,000 per patient.

In June of this year, the NMI received over $25,000 to compensate the Medicaid Office and the Group Health and Life Insurane Fund for alleged overcharges when purchasing Taxol.