Remicade in Australia

[Sebastiian]

Hello, i am currently living in France and i will go in Australia for 1 year with a working holiday visa and i'd like to know if anyone knows how much cost remicade in Australia?
Even with the insurance I am refunded at the same rate as in France. This means that if it costs 1,800€ in France , i will be refunded the equivalent of 1,800€ in Australia. If anyone can help me please , this is very important . Thank you a lot guys.

Best regards, Sebastian.

 

[my little penguin]

Paging Catherine Dusty
Both are from Australia

 

[Catherine]

I have attached advertisement for drug from Chemist Warehouse.

You would still need to a Prescriptions from I believe a GI.

I think medication has to be given in a hospital setting, I don't know much that would cost.

Dusty knows a lot more than I do.

http://www.chemistwarehouse.com.au/buy/61098/Remicade-100mg-Injection-Powder-1

 

[Sebastiian]

Hello,

Thank you for your answers, i'll try to contact Dusty.

 

[Catherine]

Dusty actually forum name is DustyKat

 

[DustyKat]

Hi Sebastiian,

The cost of Remicade on a private script will vary slightly as prices will vary from pharmacy to pharmacy. The actual price as listed by the PBS as a private script is $604.77 (396 euro) for one 100mg vial, no repeats. So this will give you some baseline to work off.

http://www.pbs.gov.au/medicine/item/10057H-10067W-10184B-10196P-4284L-5753T-5754W-5755X-5756Y-5757B-5758C-6397Q-6448J-6496X-9612X-9613Y-9617E-9654D-9674E

You will see in the pharmacy link Catherine provided their price is $645.39. Once you have an Australian script it can be filled by any pharmacy Australia wide. Outside of the cities you may have to wait a day or so for a pharmacy to obtain supplies of the drug unless they already have clients purchasing the drug from them.

Scripts will need to written by a Gastroenterologist because regardless of the script being private or public it requires an authority by a specialist and the script must be Australian. Have you looked into this aspect of things yet?

I think there are some private infusion centres in the cities (I imagine most would be in private hospitals) but certainly not in rural or regional areas. The vast majority of people would be infused in a public hospital in the oncology day unit. With this in mind you will need to ring the unit and organise an appointment time for the infusion. You should/would be able to access either public (or private infusion centres with private health insurance but be aware that you may incur out of pocket expenses as well. Also, when attending an infusion centre take your passport with you. Perhaps your health insurance company can assist you with this aspect of things, that is, locations of infusion centres and any additional costs you may incur.

 

[Sebastiian]

Hello DustyKat,

First of all I want to thank you for your reply. As to the price, I do not think it will be a problem (I do not have to pay anything because in France 400 mg costs 400 € ) . And as I say I am paid to French fare. As for the script, my gastroenterologist will make me an order concerning my need remicade . And if I understand correctly , you need the name of the molecule in English. If the script must be Australian, must I go in before my gastroenterologist Australian perfusion with my French order ( written in English ) ? I do my treatment in a private hospital, but in France it is private or public that does not change with insurance. I am trying to find out for insurance and normally all hospital costs are price included. And it does not matter if I have to pay $ 50-200 pocket , what matters is that I am careful and make me feel good. I forgot one thing, my destination is Sydney.

Sebastian.

 

[DustyKat]

In Sydney there are private infusion centres but you should also be able to access public centres as well. This website will show you where you can get infusions done anywhere in Australia. Once you know where you will be staying you can input the information to search…

http://www.where2infuse.com.au

This website is operated by one of the drug companies so it won’t be an extensive list of infusion centres. I would think that all public hospitals with a oncology day unit would do the infusions.

You will need to see a Gastroenterologist in Sydney, the script has to be an Australian script. If possible have your current GI make contact with a GI in Sydney or alternatively start searching for a GI yourself and make contact with the surgery via email well before you leave France so everything is set up before you get here. Also bring a letter from your GI explaining your medical and treatment history.

This is what an authority script looks like...

When you have a private script for Remicade it isn’t streamlined, that means you can’t get repeats on it, the script will be for one dose only. You will need to see the gastroenterologist every 8 weeks if that is your Remicade schedule. I don’t think the GI would be able to get around this as they need to contact Medicare to get an authority number, once that number is in the system the doctor won’t be able to re-prescribe until the existing script is dispensed and the 8 week expires. The whole system is linked between the doctor, the pharmacist and Medicare.

 

[Sebastiian]

The number you mention is a number that Medicare provides when I take Medicare , is that right ?

 

[DustyKat]

The number is what Medicare provides the doctor with for the authority script. The doctor will type it into the computer program they use when they ring Medicare, then when the script is generated/printed it will appear on the script. There is another part to the script that you can’t see on this image, below each script printed is a blank area that on ordinary scripts remains blank but on authority scripts appears information including the authority approval number. The pharmacist is able to remove this part of the script.

 

[Sebastiian]

if I understand it so I need a prescription from my gastroenterologist in English explaining my need of Remicade and my history and I have to go see a gastroenterologist Australians for the Australian script? that's right ?

 

[DustyKat]

Correct!

 

[Sebastiian]

Alright, Thank you for your all of your answers and the time you took for me. I will keep that topic.

Thank you.

 

[DustyKat]

You’re welcome.

 

[Sebastiian]

Hello, i tried to contact 2 gastroenterologists and no one of them answered me, can i have a contact please?

Thank you so much, Sebastian.

 

[Clash]

It looks like there are 25 doctors listed on our doctor directory from Australia. Maybe some of them are in the area you are looking at. The tab is at the top of the page.

 

[DustyKat]

Hi Sebastiian,

Do you know what area of Sydney you may be staying in?

Here are two that I have quickly pulled up that have email addresses.

http://www.markdanta.com/contact.html

http://www.rupertleong.com/#!contact/c1gzt

But you should be able to narrow things things down if you search by broad location and find someone near where you will based, i.e.
Sydney CBD
Sydney North
Sydney East
Sydney West
Sydney South

If phoning be mindful of the time difference. Reception hours are generally 9am-5pm Monday-Friday and at present there is +11 hours GMT.

 

[ImDan]

When I was on a working holiday in Australia everything was covered with Medicare.

You just apply for a Medicare card as soon as you get there

 

[Scipio]

I know of Dr. Rupert Leong in Sydney who is linked in post 17 above. He is a prominent young IBD researcher and seems to be a really nice, caring guy too.

 

[Catherine]

When I was on a working holiday in Australia everything was covered with Medicare.

You just apply for a Medicare card as soon as you get there

The process for a UK citizen is easier.

 

[Sebastiian]

Hello, i have a question, am i available to get a Medicare card with a working holiday visa?