MS drug, promising easier treatments, added to P.E.I. formulary

Lemtrada, which was approved by Health Canada for treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis in 2014, has been added to P.E.I.'s high-cost drug program.

It's good news to Heidi Hutchings Kays, who is currently on Interferon, which is taken three times a week or daily. Lemtrada is given in eight injections over two years, and the treatment then stops.

Kays said in addition to an easier treatment regime, Lemtrada could save the province money, even at a cost of $50,000 a year. Kays is in her 12th year of treatment, at an average cost of $20,000 to $25,000 a year.

"You just do the math and decide what's cheaper," she said.

"It sounds like a lot of money but it's also a lot of money to keep someone on a $25,000, up to $40,000, a year therapy indefinitely."

There are nearly 1,000 Islanders living with MS.

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