Extra cost of subcutaneous apomorphine would pay for personal nurses

BMJ 1998;317:602 ( 29 August )

Letters

Extra cost of subcutaneous apomorphine would pay for personal nurses

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ In their editorial Chaudhuri and Clough advocate a greater use of subcutaneous apomorphine in patients with Parkinson'sdisease and point out that a prefilled variable dose pen injectorhas recently become available.¹ My local pharmacist informedme of the increase in cost when a patient is switched to the useof thesepens.

My patient's dose of apomorphine supplied in conventional vials costs £1200 per month; the same dose supplied in injectorpens costs £3225 a month. I telephoned the manufacturer, BritanniaPharmaceuticals, to find out if there had been some mistake inthe pricing structure. I was told that the difference in pricewas correct and justified as the company was hoping to recoupthe costs incurred in developing the pen injection system. Thisis surprising given that the technology has already been welldeveloped for insulin, at an increase of only 50% over the costof . . . [Full text of this article]