OB Providers: 17P information

Posted March 18th, 2011 by tmccollough & filed under Newsroom, Provider News.

Recent FDA approval of K-V Pharmaceutical’s version of 17P will be marketed under the brand name Makena. The AWP release price is $1,800 per injection. FDA approval is for initiation between 16 and 21 weeks gestation. Centene health plans, including Buckeye Community Health Plan, have been using local compounding pharmacies that have provided the injections for $10-$20 per injection since 2005.

One such compounding pharmacy, PharMerica, in conjunction with Alere, Inc., will continue to provide a package of 17P injections in the patient’s home by an OB nurse, along with a weekly assessment by the nurse, for a very reasonable cost. They will also provide patient education materials related to preterm labor/pregnancy complications and a weekly report to the prescribing physician.

Alere’s 17P is preservative-free, which differentiates this product from Makena. Most obstetricians have preferred to use preservative-free influenza vaccines in pregnant patients to avoid any controversy about preservatives and their possible negative impact on the fetus.

Centene plans, including Buckeye, will offer 17P Administration service with Alere, Inc. as our preferred provider. Each patient receiving the Alere, Inc. service will need her obstetrician to write a prescription for preservative-free 17P. 

We believe that the Alere, Inc. service will help provide your high risk patients with 17P at a higher level of quality and reasonable cost.   

We are in agreement with the American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of OB/GYN and the Society of Maternal Fetal Medicine’s position on the unreasonable pricing of Makena by KV pharmaceuticals.  (http://library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1102667451069-188/20110311GoedekeLtr.pdf).