Demystifying pharmaceutical patient assistance programs

Abstract

Prescription drug costs impose a significant financial burden on the United States healthcare system. Patients with chronic dermatologic diseases often require long-term and expensive prescription drugs. In an effort to expand drug availability, pharmaceutical companies fund patient assistance programs (PAPs) to assist disadvantaged patients in gaining access to high-priced brand name medications with no suitable therapeutic alternative. Patients and clinical staff often face difficulty navigating the various PAPs. Herein, we seek to explore the utility, criteria, and challenges in PAPs and provide a practical discourse for dermatologists caring for medically indigent patients.

Keywords:

• Dermatology medications
• financial assistance
• patient assistance programs
• pharmaceutical companies
• prescription drugs

Acknowledgement

The authors thank our prescription coordinators: Audrey Gresham (Banner University Dermatology Center, Tucson), Nelson Rivera and Baltazar Herrera (University of California, Los Angeles).

Disclosure statement

VYS is a stock shareholder of Learn Health, and has served as an advisor, investigator and/or speaker for Sanofi Genzyme, Regeneron, AbbVie, Burt’s Bees, Dermira, Eli Lilly, Novartis, Pfizer, Galderma, Leo Pharma, SUN Pharma, Menlo Therapeutics, GpSkin, and Skin Actives Scientific. There was no financial transaction for the preparation n of this manuscript. EKC, KNP and JLH report no conflicts of interest.