In fact, the company's CEO told investors that there had been a sizable increase in revenue for the more expensive drug.
And even though both drugs are made in the same factory, there was no problem making the expensive drug. Endo Pharmaceuticals told NPR it was a manufacturing issue. LUPKIN: But the doctor told him that his daughter couldn't get the Vantas implant this time. I would think that it would be more seamless the second time around. TAKSALI: In my mind, I was like, well, she got it the first time, and we've already kind of fought the battle with the insurance company and, you know, got it approved. Then this summer, it was time to replace the drug implant. And Taksali thought that was the happy ending. Although his insurance company initially refused to cover Vantas, Taksali, who happens to be an orthopedic surgeon, got the decision reversed. The cheaper one was called Vantas and cost about $4,800.Įven though Vantas was only approved to treat prostate cancer, doctors could prescribe it off label, meaning the drug could be used for other conditions. But only one version, called Supprelin, was FDA approved to treat the little girl's condition. And both contained 50 milligrams of the same hormone blocker. Both were made by a company called Endo Pharmaceuticals. LUPKIN: He learned that there were two nearly identical drugs, both of which were implanted in the upper arm. And so that's where we had to make some decisions as to what the right treatment was. SUDEEP TAKSALI: We just didn't feel like she was equipped to deal with a lot of the changes that come with a girl going through puberty. I talked with her dad, Sudeep Taksali, at his Oregon home last year. It would cause her to go through puberty years earlier than her peers. We're not naming her, but she'd been diagnosed with a rare condition called central precocious puberty. In early 2020, their 8-year-old daughter needed a hormone blocker. SYDNEY LUPKIN, BYLINE: The Taksali family thought their battle to avoid a steep drug bill was over. Here's NPR pharmaceuticals correspondent Sydney Lupkin with more. We first heard about this through Kaiser Health News and NPR's Bill of the Month series. Well, now the cheaper option, which some doctors were prescribing to save families money, it is no longer available. The pediatric drug was eight times more expensive than the one for adults. An update now on the story of an 8-year-old who needed a drug that came in two nearly identical versions.
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