Vidaza treatment - South Africa

[SuzC]

My father has been diagnosed with MDS. His doctor has said he needs to have 6 cycles of Vidaza.

However, his medical aid is not willing to cover the Vidaza treatment and it's going to cost him R354000 for the 6 cycles. The state hospitals apparently do not issue Vidaza so we have hit a brick wall there.

Does anyone has any experience with this or know of anyway we can work around all these "excuses" the medical aid are giving us? Any help or advise will be appreciated!

[Neil Cuadra]

SuzC,

You can ask the doctor about other treatment choices, but for the possibility of getting him Vidaza you could contact Celgene, the pharmaceutical company that makes it. They don't appear to have an office in South Africa, but you could contact Celgene International in Switzerland by mail, by phone, or using the form on that page. They offer financial assistance to some patients (here is the U.S. program website) and perhaps they'll offer it to your father.

[SuzC]

Thank you so much for your advice!

At this stage we can take all the help/advise we can get. My Dad is 72 years old and definitely cannot afford this amount for treatment.

[Mo Sh]

Suzc

my mother has Mds too, doctors first told her to take vidaza .. then the cure vanished from market and doctors tell us to search for another cure named DACOGEN .. you can ask for it and for its price.