Well, Amgen plays that game too with their BONEBUSTER -- uh-oh did I say that? -- I meant BLOCKBUSTER drug Prolia (r)
Because of my vertebral fractures associated with the medical mismanagement of Prolia (r) doctors suggested I might consider getting my shots a bit sooner than the 6 months (plus the 5 days required for Medicare reimbursement).
So I started checking prices. The variance was HUGE! (And I am just talking about cost of the drug itself, not the cost of having it administered by a doctor or nurse).
I went to the Amgen website to see what their wholesale price might be, and to get an idea of how much markup there was, but could find nothing.
So I called the Amgen "hotline" (800-772-6436) which transferred me to a line called "Amgen Assist" where I spoke with "Judy."
Judy basically gave me the same info: I would have to run around and find the wholesalers used by each institution and find out what their prices were. But she would not give me any information about the price from Amgen.
Since these calls are recorded, I asked her to let me send a message for the people "upstairs" at Amgen about how confusing and unfair this policy is for patients.
Judy's response was "I'm terminating this call."
So I gave my message to a dead phone and then proceeded to write, once again, to Mr. Robert Bradway, CEO of Amgen Corporation with these questions.
His business address is:
Mr. Robert A. Bradway
Amgen Corporation
1 Amgen Center Drive
Thousand Oaks, CA 91320
If you are having trouble with this or any Amgen products he might want to hear from you too!
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