The price of preventing preterm labor is about to go through the roof. A drug for high-risk pregnant women has cost about $10 to $20 per injection. Next week, the price shoots up to $1,500 a dose, meaning the total cost during a pregnancy could be as much as $30,000. That’s because the drug, a form of progesterone given as a weekly shot, has been made cheaply for years, mixed in special pharmacies that custom-compound treatments that are not federally approved.
But recently, KV Pharmaceutical of suburban St.Louis won government approval to exclusively sell the drug, known as Makena (Mah-KEE’-Nah). The March of Dimes and many obstetricians supported that because it means quality will be more consistent and it will be easier to get.
None of them anticipated the dramatic price hike, though — especially since most of the cost for development and research was shouldered by others in the past.
Premature labor drug spikes from $10 to $1,500 – Health – Pregnancy – msnbc.com
Also from the article:
Doctors say the price hike may deter low-income women from getting the drug, leading to more premature births. And it will certainly be a huge financial burden for health insurance companies and government programs that have been paying for it.
Two issues come to mind: 1) the talks about potentially criminalizing miscarriages – what happens when a woman who cannot afford this drug miscarries the fetus? and 2) we read about the case a few days ago, when a woman was forcefully hospitalized to carry a fetus to term – what would happen when a hypothetical woman is forced to undergo treatment with this drug and she either has to incur in long term debt or risk legal consequences for not taking the treatment?
The increase in price of this drug alone is reason enough to be concerned for the welfare of pregnant women. However, the increase in price combined with the systematic attack on reproductive rights is just terrifying.
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