Hi Donna, I got your voicemail message, as well as your e-mail about this.

It's sad that the question of cost always comes up for the use of erythropoietin (EPO) for a patient on dialysis, because it's a quality-of-life issue. In many countries EPO is approved for the treatment of renal patients on dialysis (meaning that either the state's drug funding agency, or health insurance companies will cover 100% of the cost). Do you have a government-run drug funding agency in Jamaica? If the doctors treating your friend's mother are unwilling to apply for funding, your friend may need to approach the drug funding agency directly and see if any assistance is available to help with the cost. Some health insurance companies will underwrite the expense of giving a patient Recormon, if a doctor writes a letter asking for it.

Sorry I can't be of any more help. We are trying to get our own drug funding agency to approve the use of Recormon for surgical and cancer patients. While they have declined to do this per se, they have indicated that hospitals my apply for funding on a case-by-case basis. You may need to go over the doctor's head and speak to someone senior.

Do, please, let me know if you have any success.

Best wishes

David Ampleford