On Wednesday at around 9 o'clock in the morning, I took my 365th tablet of Gilenya *note to self: check calendar to make sure it wasn't a leap year*.
365 tablets at a cost of £42 per pill comes in at a nice fat £15,330 per annum. (Kerching, as they say at Novartis) Wow! So what have the NHS got in return for their investment? In terms of symptom relief, my main benefit is, and continues to be a large reduction in fatigue. I've also noticed improvements with bladder and bowel function.
What about its affect on the illness itself? No idea. I have been slowly deteriorating for quite a few years now, and this has continued whilst I've been taking Gilenya. That's not saying that the medication isn't helping to fight disease progression. I could be progressing quicker without it.
On the face of it, I think it comes down to the path that MS is on for each individual. Mine is very aggressive. That's why my diagnosis is 'Highly Active Relapsing Remitting MS'. I'm still waiting for these remissions though!
It's been the same on Rebif though. And Tysabri. On the latter, I also found symptom relief despite there being no obvious changes with the progressive nature of the illness. I had no symptom relief at all on Rebif. Everything worsened considerably. My God, that stuff was like poison to my body.
I hope I'm not putting off anyone who might be contemplating switching to Gilenya from their current medication. I am just telling you how it is with me. No disease modifying therapy has had any real impact on the progression of the disease, and the symptom relief I get is on a par with Tysabri. The difference is that the Gilenya way is a pill, that's it.
So is symptom relief enough for the NHS to continue paying out up to £1300 a month for?
I don't think so either.
Have a good 'un,
Dan
No comments:
Post a Comment