Hello Sophie hope you get good sleep now after all that gosh hole in bag.hope it works wonders for you hun do they give piroton with it to minimise reaction.thinking of you.
hugs
melly

Thanks Mel and Doreen, yes Mel they give piriton and paracetamol and a large bag of steroid infusion first, thats what they said Doreen it could been contaminated.

Sophie x

Hi aww thats good piriton and pain relief steriod,bless glad they noticed wouldnt want contaminated infusion.
take care hugs melly

Gosh you think they would be more carefull with our expensive drugs glad they noticed before hand, hope you feel the bennifits a.s.a.p

love corinne xx

Yes Mary i was up till 2.30am, it was the nurse who said it to me Jenni , ive just looked it up on the computer and it says £4,900 so maybe she means for the two treatments you have two weeks apart,

Sophie x

Hello Sophie

So glad that you are feeling so much b etter - magic

I had no idea that the drugs were so expensive. How often do you had the infusion is it every
2 weeks, monthly ?

Good luck

Rose

Hi Sophie,

Glad things went well at your infusion. Good job the nurse noticed the hole - regardless of price, what a waste!

Take care,

Kathleen x

I was up the hospital today and I asked the nurse how much a bag of RTX was and like your nurse said that it was the same as your nurse says- £10000

I said, I dont think it is that much according to the rheumatologist and she printed this off to show me.

http://www.nice.org.uk/n...a/pdf/TA126guidance.pdf

"2.3 The cost to the NHS of 100-mg and 500-mg vials of rituximab is £174.63 and £873.15 respectively, excluding VAT (‘British national formulary [BNF]’ 53). The cost of a single course of rituximab is £3492 (two 1000-mg i/v infusions). However, costs may vary in different settings because of negotiated procurement discounts."

Compared to:


Adalimumab 40 mg; fortnightly £9,295
Etanercept 25 mg; twice weekly £9,295
Infliximab 3 mg/kg; weeks 0, 2 and 6, then every 8 weeks
administered as day case (costed as national
tariff for inflammatory spine, joint or connective
tissue disorder [H26] uplifted for national
average market forces factor)
£13,338
(+ £6,156 for
loading
doses)*
Infliximab 3 mg/kg; weeks 0, 2 and 6, then every 8 weeks
administered as outpatient (costed as national
tariff for rheumatology follow-up outpatient
uplifted for national average market forces
factor)
£8,905
(+ £4,110 for
loading
doses)*

From (http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/pdf/Rheumatoidarthritisfirstuseadalimumabetanerceptinfliximabcostingstatement.pdf)
They use a heck of a lot of it here in Southampton so wouldnt be surprised if they are getting RTX for £500 rather than the 873.15 per infusion.

Bearing in mind that it is only a couple of times a year it is a LOT cheaper than a lot of the other biologics.

Jenni x

Hi Sophie,

Glad it went well!

I'm hoping to have my second course of Rituximab next month and my rheummy has said that the drug usually is more effective the second time around. Here's hoping you won't be costing the NHS another £xxx for RTX for ages and ages!

Joanna

Thanks ladies, i agree Mel cost is nothing for a better quality of life, Joanna i hope your next round of Rituximab works wonders for you, Julie how are you doing ? bet you can not wait for next week, are you off with Jimmy ?

Sophie x