Pharmaceutical Business review

Galena Biopharma launches Galena Patient Services

Currently, Galena markets Abstral (fentanyl) sublingual tablets for the treatment of breakthrough cancer pain.

A dedicated GPS team works with the healthcare professionals, patients, and insurance providers to guide the benefits approval process and make prescribing and receiving Galena Biopharma commercial products as simple as possible.Enrollment in the GPS program is done quickly and easily through a patient’s certified prescriber.

Galena Patient Services will:

– Guide the benefits investigation and prior authorization process
– Help manage the appeals and denials process
– Locate the preferred pharmacy
– Execute the Patient Assistance Program (PAP) for patient reimbursement support

Galena Biopharma president and CEO Dr Mark J. Ahn noted patients suffering from breakthrough cancer pain are confronted with extraordinary issues on a daily basis, including insurance reimbursement and access.

"Galena Patient Services will offer support to these patients and their healthcare providers by managing the benefits approval process to make prescribing and receiving Abstral as simple as possible," Ahn added.

All GPS services will be coordinated by a contracted third party vendor. All personal data in the GPS program are kept confidential to maintain HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) privacy standards.

Abstral (fentanyl) sublingual tablets are an important treatment option for inadequately controlled breakthrough cancer pain which impacts 40%-80% of cancer patients. Abstral is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, and is a sublingual (under the tongue) fentanyl tablet indicated only for the management of breakthrough pain in patients with cancer, 18 years of age and older, who are already receiving, and who are tolerant to, opioid therapy for their persistent baseline cancer pain.

The Abstral formulation delivers the analgesic power and increased bioavailability of micronized fentanyl in a more convenient sublingual tablet which rapidly dissolves under the tongue in seconds, provides rapid relief of breakthrough pain in minutes, and matches the duration of the entire pain episode.