The financial burden of PARP inhibitors on patients, payors, and financial assistance programs: Who bears the cost?

OBJECTIVES: Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors are expensive and their use is expanding. We aimed to evaluate cost sharing patterns between patients, payors, and financial assistance programs. METHODS: We identified ovarian cancer patients prescribed a PARP inhibitor from 5/2015-9/2019 using our pharmacy database. Cost information was collected for patients who filled their prescription at our specialty pharmacy. We calculated descriptive statistics for monthly PARP inhibitor costs for patients, payors, and financial assistance programs. We used Wilcoxon rank sum tests to evaluate monthly costs based on insurance characteristics. RESULTS: Seventy-six patients filled 94 different PARP inhibitor prescriptions with 42 (45%) prescriptions obtained using any type of financial assistance program. We analyzed 232 prescription months for the 41 prescriptions with available cost data. This included 18 (44%) prescriptions for rucaparib, 18 (44%) for niraparib, and 5 (12%) for olaparib. The total monthly drug cost was average $12,422 and median $13,700. The monthly out-of-pocket (OOP) cost for patients was average $46 and median $0 (IQR $0-4). Payors had the highest monthly costs with average $12,019 and median $13,662 (IQR $9914-14,709). Financial assistance programs contributed average $358 and median $0 per month (IQR $0-150). Patients with public (p<0.01) or Medicare insurance (p<0.01) had higher OOP costs than without. CONCLUSIONS: OOP costs were generally low with 75% of patients paying <$5 per month. While limited by small sample size at a single institution, financial assistance programs appear to play a critical role to ensure access to PARP inhibitors as nearly 50% of patients utilized these programs.

Total and out-of-pocket costs for PARP inhibitors among insured ovarian cancer patients.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate total and out-of-pocket costs for poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors and differences based on insurance characteristics. METHODS: We identified ovarian cancer patients who were prescribed niraparib, olaparib, or rucaparib from the MarketScan (2014-2017) and Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare (2014-2016) databases. Drug costs were estimated for a 30-day supply. Descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon rank sum tests were performed. RESULTS: 590 commercially insured beneficiaries from MarketScan and 213 SEER-Medicare beneficiaries were prescribed PARP inhibitors for a median 112 days. For commercially insured beneficiaries, median total cost was $13,342 (IQR $12,022-$14,256). Median out-of-pocket cost was $44 (IQR $0-$120) and PARP inhibitors accounted for a median 90.8% of patients' total out-of-pocket drug spending. High-deductible health plan was not associated with higher out-of-pocket costs (N = 570; median $0 vs. $45, P = 0.87). For SEER-Medicare beneficiaries, median total cost was $12,798 (IQR $11,704-$13,180). Median out-of-pocket cost was $370 (IQR $2-$1234) and PARP inhibitors accounted for a median 99.0% of patients' total out-of-pocket drug spending. Out-of-pocket costs were lower for dual-eligible patients with supplemental Medicaid prescription coverage (N = 209; median $1 vs. $911, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Although insurers are responsible for a large proportion of PARP inhibitor costs, out-of-pocket costs for PARP inhibitors account for a majority of patients' drug spending. SEER-Medicare beneficiaries had higher out-of-pocket costs than patients with commercial insurance, which was offset for those with supplemental Medicaid prescription coverage.

Evaluation of baseline corrected QT interval and azithromycin prescriptions in an academic medical center.

BACKGROUND: Azithromycin is used in the inpatient setting for a variety of conditions. In 2013, the US Food and Drug Administration released a warning regarding risk for corrected QT (QTc) prolongation and subsequent arrhythmias. Knowledge of inpatient prescribing patterns of QTc prolonging medications with respect to patient risk factors for adverse cardiovascular events can help recognize safe use in light of these new warnings. OBJECTIVE: To assess inpatient prescribing patterns, risk factors for QTc prolongation, and relationship between drug-drug interactions and cardiac monitoring in patients receiving azithromycin. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred inpatients ≥ 19 years of age were randomly selected from 1610 patient encounters between October 2012 and April 2013 who were administered at least 1 dose of azithromycin. MEASUREMENTS: Length of stay, reason for use, therapy duration, and concomitant medications were recorded. Telemetry charges and baseline electrocardiogram (ECG) prior to administration were assessed. RESULTS: Seventy-nine percent of azithromycin use was empiric. Sixty-five percent of patients received a baseline ECG prior to prescribing azithromycin, of which 60% had borderline or abnormal QTc prolongation. Seventy-six percent of patients were prescribed 2 or more QTc prolonging medications, of which there were more abnormal ECGs at baseline (P = 0.03) despite having telemetry ordered less than half of the time. CONCLUSIONS: In a cohort of hospitalized patients, azithromycin was prescribed despite risk factors for QTc prolongation and administration of interacting medications. Selection of azithromycin by providers appears to be independent from these risk factors, and education and vigilance to drug-drug interactions may be useful in limiting cardiac events with prescribing azithromycin.