[Lolly]

Stephanie,

I had the same problem and when I contacted my insurance provider was told the problem is with Medicare's billing code for Tykerb, and the insurance providers have no control over how the government codes Tykerb.

Xeloda was a reasonable co-pay, but Tykerb is viewed as a "specialty drug" which puts it into a different class. I was advised to take it up with Medicare, which I haven't had time to do yet. However, the light at the end of the tunnel is that after 3 months of high, high co-pay's I finally reached my maximum annual out-of-pocket amount and it's now appx. $170 a month.

Thanks to Christine's heads up, I just participated in GSK's teleconference regarding the news release on food/Tykerb interaction(GSK's advice is follow the FDA approved use, which is "on an empty stomach"), and I asked the GSK moderator about this issue of Medicare/Tykerb. She said GSK is well aware of the difficulty for patients, although GSK can't effect a change in Medicare's policy. They advise patients who face a high co-pay to get in touch with:

"TykerbCares"
http://www.tykerb.com/tykerbcares.html

and they will guide you through the Patient Assistance process for financial assistance with the cost.

Hope this helps, let me know if I need to clarify.

<3 Lolly