BigKNY3, I am trying very hard to have PFun! today, but with all the news out you'll understand that it is a little bit hard to do so.
Anyway, maybe we can at least have " pfun ": I note in the following article that Oxford Health Plans, Inc. has decided to pay for Viagra. The ardent pfe-fans ( pfooo, I am out of breath!!! ) need to forget however a minor issue in order to have pfun: ie that Oxford Health Plans stock is down 80% this year ( because, guess what, " they couldn't pay for everything they promised their subscribers+mismanaged accounting ). Of course, now that they promised to pay for Viagra OXHP stock will soon have a meteoric rise
again,
investor.msn.com
TA
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Prudential HealthCare and Humana,
Citing Safety, Won't Pay for Viagra
By NANCY ANN JEFFREY
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, July 6 1998.
NEW YORK -- Two leading health insurers have decided not to pay for Viagra, Pfizer Inc.'s impotence drug, citing safety concerns in the wake of reported deaths and adverse reactions.
Prudential HealthCare, a unit of Prudential Insurance Co. of America, with more than five million members in managed-care plans, and Humana Inc., a managed-care company with 6.2 million members, said Thursday that they took the action because they weren't assured of the drug's long-term safety.
Anthony Kotin, chief medical officer of Prudential HealthCare, in Roseland, N.J., said the insurer felt there wasn't enough clinical data to make the case that the drug was safe among the elderly, often sick men who are using it. "This drug didn't pass what we require in terms of the check for safety," Dr. Kotin said.
Carol McCall, vice president of pharmacy management at Humana's Louisville, Ky., headquarters, said the health plan's concerns were raised by news reports citing the deaths of Viagra patients and raising concerns about the Food and Drug Administration's drug-approval process. "With the overwhelming attention the drug has received, we were concerned about its long-term safety," she said.
But industry analysts said the insurers' real concern was the drug's high cost. "They are using this as a cover," said Hemant Shah, an independent pharmaceutical analyst in Warren, N.J. "The real reason is that managed care has become the poster child of what is wrong with health care in America ... and for these institutions to say they are denying coverage because it costs too much is very difficult to do."
The FDA says Viagra is safe if used appropriately and that the agency hasn't identified a clear link between the drug and the reported deaths. "We're still where we were: The FDA believes Viagra is safe and effective for its labeled indication and intended patient population," said Lorrie McHugh, an FDA spokeswoman. More than two million men have used the drug since it became available in April.
Mariann Caprino, a Pfizer spokeswoman, said there is ample evidence Viagra is safe and that the company has received no reports of deaths that raise any new concerns about the drug's safety beyond warnings already noted in the drug's label.
Prudential's Dr. Kotin dismissed suggestions that the insurer's decision was financially motivated, noting that Prudential had also refused to cover Posicor, a high-blood-pressure drug, and Duract, a painkiller. Both recently were withdrawn from the market amid reports of serious side-effect or drug-interaction problems.
In recent weeks, several large insurers have said they won't cover Viagra, including Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif., the nation's largest not-for-profit HMO, and Aetna/U.S. Healthcare, a unit of Aetna Inc. of Hartford, Conn. But until now, insurers have cited cost, not safety, as the driving concern. Kaiser, for example, estimated a cost of $100 million a year if it covered Viagra, which has a retail price of about $10 a pill.
As of mid-June, the FDA had received about 30 reports of men dying after taking Viagra. But many of these men were elderly and had serious health problems. Viagra's label warns against mixing the drug with nitrate heart medications, such as nitroglycerin, and advises physicians to assess the cardiovascular health of patients before they resume sex.
Federal health officials have been notifying states that their Medicaid programs must pay for Viagra, but the officials may eventually drop that requirement if evidence is found that the drug is being abused. Meanwhile, New York State and Wisconsin on Friday said they would defy that federal directive, which would be expensive, saying they aren't sure Viagra is safe or necessary. Others states may follow suit.
Several insurance companies are still weighing a final coverage decision. Pending a final decision, United HealthCare Corp. is covering as many as eight pills a month, and Cigna Corp.'s Cigna HealthCare unit is paying for as many as six pills.
But some insurers, such as Oxford Health Plans Inc., in Norwalk, Conn., have decided to pay for the pill. "We're confident if the drug is dispensed according to guidelines it is indeed safe," said Nicole Reilly, an Oxford spokeswoman. The plan covers as many as six pills a month.
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