Commenter: Whitesel, Robert
Date: 07/29/2010
Comment:
Autologous cellular immunotherapy Is it "reasonable and necessary" under sections 1862(a)(1)(A) and/or 1862(a)(1)(E) of the Social Security Act? My name is Robert Whitesel. [PHI Redacted]
[PHI Redacted] Autologous cellular immunotherapy seems more "reasonable" to me than other Medicare accepted prostate cancer therapies, e.g., radical prostatectomy and chemotherapy. To treat aggressive, advanced cancers, to be sure, it would seem to me at least as "necessary" as the aforementioned therapies already accepted as reasonable.
I wish to make three (3) points in support of my affirmative response to the question above:
[PHI Redacted]
2. It is important to minimize treatments with destructive side effects. Quality of life suffers and the patient's immune system may be weakened and left vulnerable to other diseases. This therapy has been designed to build on the immune- system-boosting-capability of GM-CSF (granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor) agents and doesn't leave one's immune system compromised by the destructive effects of taxane-based chemotherapy agents.
3. Some way must be found to reduce the cost of this out- patient-administered therapy. Long-term costs could be reduced by treating the largest possible number of qualified patients early in their disease progression, thereby putting the cancer cells at least into dormancy and reducing or eliminating the subsequent need of today's similarly costly and less-effective treatments for these men.
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