Ibrance usage: worth it or not?

There is a very long ibrance thread here where you can read about how people are doing on the drug. I suspect people there will also have tips on how to access reduced cost options.

https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/8/topics/...

most of us stay on treatment for as long as it works. When it stops working , we move to the next treatment line, and so on until we run out of treatments.

Cdk4/6 inhibitors like palbociclib have improved survival times for many er+ pts. Pretty groundbreaking drug.

Lotus- As others have said here, you need to understand that you would be on Ibrance until it stops working and the cancer progresses. Then you go onto another drug. You can get financial assistance for the medicine in the United States. My co-pay was $35 a month for most of my time on the med. Then, toward the end, I was on a different insurance plan and my co-pay for the Ibrance was $0. You get a 21 day supply each month, because you take it for 21 days then do not take it for 7 days out of the month. I was on Ibrance for 4 years. No, it did not "cure" the cancer, but it gave me those 4 years. Now, due to the cancer growing, I am on another medicine. But, Ibrance was well worth it for the 4 years more of life I got.

lotus,

Because I have survived progression free* for so long, long before Ibrance was approved, I have only been on AI's. I suspect that when I have progression, Ibrance or Verzenio would be tx options which I would gladly take as at stage IV, the reality is that we stay on treatments as long as they continue working and then move on to something else. Nothing that we currently use will cure mbc, nothing so we just try to get as much time out of a given tx as we can. As for the expense, between insurance and assistance programs from the manufacturer, you should not have to worry about the cost. Take care.

* I am atypical and since the approval of Ibrance, very few mo’s would prescribe an AI only. I once asked about adding Ibrance but my mo asked why would I want to add another drug when the one I was currently taking is keeping things at bay. Good point but again, I am an exceptional responder for reasons unknown. If I were dx’ed today, I would take Ibrance without hesitation.

I just finished cycle #19 of Ibrance. Started at 125 and then dropped to 100 after four cycles, due to low ANC and white blood cell counts. Have never paid a penny. Co-pay is supposedly $75.00, but that is covered by Pfizer. No questions or inquiries into our income. When I read the insurance EOBs, they list the price as anywhere between $14K to $22K per cycle. Yikes!