New program provides medicines

Yawu Miller

The Partnership for Prescription Assistance, a groundbreaking nationwide initiative to help qualifying patients who lack prescription coverage get the medicines they need, launched the Massachusetts chapter on Tuesday.

The partnership brings together America’s pharmaceutical companies, doctors and other health care providers, patient advocates and community leaders to help patients find the public or private patient assistance program that’s right for them.

“More than 700,000 Massachusetts residents in our state lack prescription coverage and have difficulty affording their medicines could benefit from the program,” said Tobias Fisher, executive director for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill of Massachusetts. “We are excited to work with our contacts in Massachusetts to spread the word about this important initiative.”

The Partnership for Prescription Assistance of Massachusetts provides a single point of access to more than 475 public and private patient assistance programs, including more than 180 programs offered by pharmaceutical companies. These programs provide assistance on more than 2,500 brand name medicines and a wide range of generics.  Patients in need may qualify to get prescription medicines for free or nearly free. Qualifying patients will also be given information on how to contact government programs.

“We are very proud to join the Partnership for Prescription Assistance of Massachusetts,” said Tristram Blake, executive director for the South End Community Health Center. “This program will help thousands of people across the state that lack prescription coverage get the medicines they need.”

To find out if they may qualify, patients can visit a user-friendly Web site or call toll free to speak with a trained specialist who will guide them through the application process in English, Spanish and approximately 150 other languages. Patients or their care providers can call toll-free at 1-888-4PPA-NOW (1-888-477-2669) or visit www.pparxma.org. Millions of patients across the country have received free or nearly free medicines through these programs, and millions more may qualify.