Medicare Agrees to Pay for $93,000 Prostate Cancer Drug

The Philadelphia Inquirer

WASHINGTON - Medicare officials said Wednesday that the program would pay the $93,000 cost of the prostate cancer drug Provenge, an innovative therapy that typically gives men suffering from an incurable stage of the disease an extra four months to live.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid said the biotech drug made by Dendreon Corp. was a "reasonable and necessary" medicine. The decision ensures that millions of men would be able to afford the drug through the government-backed health-care coverage. With government reimbursement, analysts estimate Provenge could total $1 billion in sales next year... Read More