Auvi-Q relaunch

[BensMom]

Maybe Trump will fix it. I'm half serious.  We just have to get him to tweet about it. We need to harness his tweeting power.

[BensMom]

I had been coming to post this email I got from them:

Hello,

Thank you for your patience as we have worked to bring AUVI-Q back to the market. We wanted to make sure you heard directly from us that we are announcing AUVI-Q will be available by prescription nationwide on February 14.

Please visit www.auvi-q.com for more information on AUVI-Q, including pricing.


Thanks again for your continued support.

Best,

Your AUVI-Q Team

[hezzier]

I would love these for DS.  Finding cargo pants that fit 2 epi pens is challenging.  Our insurance company did not cover it last time so I'm sure they won't this time either.

[ajasfolks2]

I would expect few insurance plans will cover at that high cost.

What the hell are they thinking???

[YouKnowWho]

Cigna and Express Scripts are out.  No Auvi Q for us, no name brand Epi.  Would truly like to thank the epinephrine makers for nothing.  Truly.

[BensMom]

Same here. We have Cigna. I just really don't understand what Kaleo is thinking with that pricing. Who would pay that and why do they think it's ok as long as customers don't have to pay it?

[Macabre]

They would sell more with a lower price. If it were $100,they could easily sell 45 of them for every one $4500 set.

[starlight]

Can someone point me to the prices? All I'm seeing is "$0 out of pocket for all commercially insured patients including high deductible plans." and "Support for patients who can't afford their medicines and who do not have commercial or government insurance." Not sure how they can make that guarantee for all commercially insured folk but whatev.

[ctmartin]

I just got off the phone with Auvi-Q, as everything I am seeing is very confusing regarding pricing.  The rep told me that if you have insurance ... even if it is high deductible or you have no prescription coverage ... your copay will be $0.  She also told me that if you do not have insurance, if you make under $100,000, your co-pay will be ($0). I guess what I don't understand is what do people here mean when they say their insurance will not cover it?  Isn't it still free??

[hezzier]

There was a statement about insurance issued through the government...DH is retired military so we still use tricare which did not cover auvi-q the first time around so I highly doubt they will cover it this time either.  I assume we would end up paying the $360 if I ask the allergist for a prescription.

[gvmom]

We have cigna also.  I was actually looking forward to not buying epipens, or their generics.  Auvi-q was something we definitely were looking forward to.  AND, even paying for it would have been fine.

I, however, am even more disgusted by their whole insurance scheme than I was with Mylan's gross overbloated prices. 

Going forward, when it comes time for new auto-injectors, I have a feeling the generic CVS will be what we will get.  Unless they have some jerky scheme where those really are $10,000 for insurance companies or something. 

I really don't get it though.  Why would any company, especially after Mylan's really bad PR, re-launch with a scheme that is only going to get them cr@ppy publicity?  Unless they really just don't care about succeeding? 

[CMdeux]

I, however, am even more disgusted by their whole insurance scheme than I was with Mylan's gross overbloated prices. 



THAT.



I refuse to be a party to it as long as I have any alternative at all.  Period.  I don't CARE if they are "free" to me.  It's merely a tactic to recapture market share, given the other crap about their pricing scheme.    Just because they CAN do this to medicare, medicaid, and insurers who haven't closed the loop here, doesn't mean that they should do it. 

No conscience.  Ergo, none of my business.   

[gvmom]

I refuse to be a party to it as long as I have any alternative at all.  Period.  I don't CARE if they are "free" to me.  It's merely a tactic to recapture market share, given the other crap about their pricing scheme.    Just because they CAN do this to medicare, medicaid, and insurers who haven't closed the loop here, doesn't mean that they should do it. 

No conscience.  Ergo, none of my business.

Yes.  Exactly.

I think that when I thought of Auvi-q.... at least the first go round, it seemed like it was about listening and thinking about what people living with FA's needed.  The people who designed it also knew what it was like to need one.  There was this sense that it was by people like us, for people like us. 

This pricing garbage really just pulls the curtain back.  Sure, you get what would actually be better .... except that you basically have to turn a blind eye to the repugnancy of the pricing scheme.

It feels even more disappointing to feel like somehow they've managed to find a way to look substantially more sleazy than Mylan. 

I think I also didn't figure the price wouldn't be sort of high because of the whole recall and need to reboot... you figure that would likely be figured in to things.... trying to recoup money for a variety of things, including restarting and trying to turn a profit.  But, it is just too much. 

Honestly, we were so looking forward to getting all the boys set up with the auvi-q's.... but now, that is out the window. 

[Macabre]

If this is doable for us, I will likely toss my morality out the window instead. DS was the first person in the Twin Cities to get Auvis from a CVS. He loved them. Girls often have the option of carrying epis in their purse, but unless he has his backpack with him, those epis have to go in a pocket. It is hard to do that. The generic should be easier but nothing like Auvis.

His safety during a reaction is more important than my moral outrage (which I will voice loudly to Kaleo). So if we can go back to Auvis, we will.

[BensMom]

If this is doable for us, I will likely toss my morality out the window instead. DS was the first person in the Twin Cities to get Auvis from a CVS. He loved them. Girls often have the option of carrying epis in their purse, but unless he has his backpack with him, those epis have to go in a pocket. It is hard to do that. The generic should be easier but nothing like Auvis.

His safety during a reaction is more important than my moral outrage (which I will voice loudly to Kaleo). So if we can go back to Auvis, we will.

I was just going to post the same thing. If it's $360 for us, we'll do it. I don't understand the pricing structure well enough anyway to have a lot of moral outrage. I mean clearly, pricing it at $4500 is outrageous, but I think the system they have to work within is really screwed up and Congress may have a role here. And the insurance companies. It's not all on Kaleo. I haven't looked into them to see what they pay their CEO or how much money they make or how much it cost them to relaunch. Maybe they are being completely outrageous, but I don't know.

But yes, having a son who carries epis in his pocket--I'll get him the auvis if we can.