A new statewide program will allow cancer patients unable to afford or access cancer drugs to obtain medications that might otherwise go to waste. Under the program, people can donate no-longer-needed cancer drugs or supplies to a repository, allowing them to be repurposed for patients in need.
The Ann Arbor-based YesRx repository establishes a network of pharmacists that can accept cancer drug donations from individuals, pharmacies, manufacturers and distributors, then re-prescribe them to cancer patients requiring the same dosage. Donors can turn in unused, unopened cancer medications and supplies, such as anti-nausea medicine, to doctors, pharmacists and other providers participating in the repository system. The medications must have at least six months left before their expiration.
“The idea is to get the drugs shipped to the patient as soon as we can,” said Farah Jalloul, the director of professional development at the Michigan Pharmacists Association and one of the founders of YesRx.