Letrozole FBM
This was my experience trying to get the For Benefit brand of Letrozole, where 100% of the profits go to BCNA and cancer research.
I asked my GP about it, she had never heard of it (it had been a big news story on tv the night before). When she looked up brands of Letrozole on her computer, the FBM brand was not listed as an option. I rang Bigbrand Chemists R US, where I get my Sandoz brand of Letrozole each month for $28. They hadn't heard of FBMedicines. After back and forth, they discovered yes, it was available, but I would have to order it in as a special order. So I did. When I picked it up a few days later, it wasn't till I got home that I saw I had been charged $38.80, a difference of over $10. I double checked on the FBM website (www.forbenefitmedicines.com.au) where it assured me I would pay approximately the same price. This started to sound a bit dodgy, so I rang FBM direct, and spoke to John (an amazing person who is "retired" and doing this and taking on the big pharmacy suppliers for purely humanitarian reasons....talk about the next Australian of the Year!). What I learnt was that chemists can only charge a maximum amount ($38.80) for most items on the PBS, but they are allowed to discount. So when a big chain buys lots of drugs from a company, they can afford to discount those quite dramatically. The same might not happen for smaller suppliers (like FBM). So....armed with my new knowledge, I rang back Bigbrand Chemists R US and said I was shocked at the price difference between the two products. They said the higher price was because it wasn't a product "on their list", and they had to go to a lot of trouble ordering it in. (Apparently this "trouble" involves ticking a box on a computer screen.) But they would be happy, as a favour to me, to give me the FBM brand for $30. I said that I would be on this drug for ten years, would be buying it from them every month for those ten years, so could I get it put on their "list". But, no, each month I will have to ring a day or two before I need it, ask them to order it in, and when I pick it up negotiate the price down to $30, still $2 more than the generic Sandoz brand, but $2 I am more than happy to pay for the bigger picture.
So my little experience is a snapshot of how the big pharmaceutical brands are able by sheer volume, to discount and push their brands, and how it must be very attractive for the bigger chemists such as Bigbrand Chemists R US to play along with that to the detriment of smaller brands, even when those smaller brands are giving back to the community in such a terrific way.
John at ForBenefitMedicines actually implored me to stay on the Sandoz brand, because the last thing they wanted was for the patient to be out of pocket or inconvenienced (I felt my heart twang at that comment). When I said I wasn't particularly tied to Bigbrand Chemists R US and maybe I could go to one further away that might offer a better price, he again reiterated that it was not FBM's intention to put the patient to any extra trouble. I worked it out then...FBM are for the patient!
So I guess what I have found out is that in the big business scheme of things, not many have heard of FBM, and if they have, they might be pretending they haven't. So spread the word, maybe take a photocopy of the info from the FBM website next time you go to the GP, or your pharmacist, or your specialist, and talk about it to friends who might be on the same medicines. FBM will hopefully be expanding its medicines for the treatment of other illnesses in the not to distant future, not just breast cancer treatments.
I don't want my experience to deter people from chasing up LetrozoleFBM, in fact, the opposite. Once you know a little bit about it, it is easy, but you have to be persistent. Ask for it, keep asking, you might have to make a phone call.
In the meantime, I will be putting my order in every month, negotiating the price, picking up my Letrozole FBM, paying that $2 extra, for the next ten years. Because in the long run, I think it is the best thing to do. I get my medicine, and the profits go back to BCNA and cancer research. And when John, having donated his retirement to help others, is up on the dais being recognised for his altruistic generosity, I'll be applauding.
