Biologics for Nasal Polyps: What’s the Role?

[Cecelia Damask MD]
So there are multiple factors and different types of biologics that the patients can be put on. So it is an actual long conversation with a patient to try to decide which one. And then even once we decide which one, is this something that is going to be administered in the office so I can monitor you and make sure that you're compliant, or is this something that you're going to self administer at home or someone's going to administer to you?

And then there's questions about frequency in terms of dosing. So one of them dupilumab, for everybody, is every two weeks and NUCALA or mepolizumab for everybody is every four weeks. Omalizumab can be dosed based on their IgE and their weight, and so it can be variable. It can be something that they might get every two weeks, or it could be something that they might get every four weeks. And also with the omalizumab, the number of injections can vary. So some people could get one injection, some people could get three injections every two or four weeks. So there's that discussion about frequency

And each one of the biologic companies has what I'll call a hub, where you fill out an enrollment form, which basically tells the patient's insurance. It tells some baseline things about the patient. Like they have failed with topical steroids, or they have been on so many bursts of oral steroids. And you sign it kind of like a prescription and the patient signs it saying that they give this hub permission to evaluate the patient's insurance for a benefits investigation. And then that benefits investigation will come back to the office and it will give you information about if the patient has any out-of-pockets, if they have any deductible, how much this would cost. And then also it will tell the office how the patient is to obtain the drug.

So some patients get the drug through what's called a specialty pharmacy. So it's not your local Walgreens or CVS. It's a pharmacy that specializes in taking care of medicines that require special handling because they have to be refrigerated at a, at a certain degree between two to eight degrees Celsius, like our immunotherapy and the specialty pharmacies will coordinate delivery.

Some patients, their insurance, especially our Medicare patients for some of the biologics require what's called “buy and bill.” And so that means the biologic has to be purchased by either your office or by an infusion center and then billed to the insurance. So these hubs are very helpful and we'll sort all that out for you and send it back so that then you know which way the patient would have to go for a particular biologic. And then also what those hubs will do, as long as the patient signs permission for them to do so, they will look into copay assistance or different assistance programs to help the patients. And for all the different manufacturers that are out there, they all have really wonderful copay assistance programs that help the patient, not only for the cost of the drug, but if you do administer in the office for administration in the office as well.