How Assistance Works

Streamlining our patient’s specialty pharmacy experience with unmatched full-service convenience

  • 1. Check Your Coverage/Benefits Verification

    Our team of expert billers finds the best avenues of coverage that minimize out-of-pocket costs.

  • 2. Transfer Prescription to AmeriPharma®

    We process your prescription by working with your previous pharmacy or prescriber, making the transition quick and easy.

  • 3. Prior Authorization

    Our team of specialists obtains approval from your insurance companies within 24 to 72 hours.

  • 4. Copay Assistance & Financial Aid

    We secure financial aid and decrease copays, out-of-pocket expenses, and high deductibles. To date, AmeriPharma® Specialty Care has secured $55 million in financial assistance for our patients.

  • 5. Nursing Care Coordination If Needed

    AmeriPharma® puts your schedule and home environment first when scheduling and coordinating one of our specialized nurses for your in-home infusions.

  • 6. Delivery Coordination

    Medications are always delivered in strict compliance with the specific requirements for shipping. Next-day and overnight cold-chain deliveries are coordinated around your schedule.

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What Is Orencia and How Does It Work?

Orencia is a medication with the generic name abatacept. It was first approved by the FDA on December 23, 2005, for reducing signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. It is also used to slow the progression of structural damage and improve the physical function in adult patients with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis who have had an inadequate response to one or more Disease-Modifying Anti-Rheumatoid Drugs (DMARDs), such as methotrexate. Orencia may be used as a monotherapy or concomitantly with DMARDs (other than a class of medications known as TNF antagonists).

Orencia is a selective T-Cell co-stimulation blocker, and it exhibits its therapeutic action through the inhibition of T-cells (T-lymphocyte activation). T-cells are a type of white blood cell that is mainly responsible for inflammation when the immune system attacks its own tissues, including joints, and is typically found in the synovium (the connective tissue that lines the inside of the joint capsule) of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

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What is Orencia Used to Treat?

Orencia is FDA-approved for:

  • The treatment of moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis in adults; and Orencia may be used as monotherapy or in combination with other disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs).
  • The treatment of active psoriatic arthritis in adults.
  • The treatment of moderately to severely active polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis in patients 2 years of age and older;
  • Orencia may be used as monotherapy or in combination with methotrexate.
  • Prophylaxis of acute graft-versus-host disease (in combination with a calcineurin inhibitor and methotrexate) in adults and pediatric patients at least 2 years of age undergoing stem cell transplantation. Graft-versus-host disease is a condition that occurs when donor bone marrow or stem cells attack the recipient.

The concomitant use of Orencia with other potent immunosuppressants (e.g., biologic DMARDs, Janus kinase inhibitors) is not recommended. You should always inform your doctor and pharmacist of all your current medications to avoid any drug-to-drug interactions.

Copay and Financial Assistance

AmeriPharma® Specialty Care alleviates financial burdens for patients and their families

  • Advanced software locates funding sources to match you with top-dollar foundation programs

  • One of our copay assistance specialists will assist with the application process

  • Automatic updates will be sent to you and your physician on the status of the funding

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Orencia Dosing Information

Orencia comes in three forms: As a solution for intravenous infusion, as a solution auto-injector for subcutaneous self-injection, and lastly as a prefilled syringe for subcutaneous injection.

1. Intravenous dosing and administration (for rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis):

Depending on body weight, the dose of Orencia is calculated as follows:

  • Patients under 60 kg: 500 mg
  • Patients between 60 to 100 kg: 750 mg
  • Patients over 100 kg: 1,000 mg

The dose is diluted in normal saline and is then infused through a catheter that gets inserted into the vein of the arm. Infusions usually take about 30 minutes followed by a period of observation for any infusion-related reactions.

2. Intravenous dosing and administration (for acute graft-versus-host disease, prophylaxis):

Depending on body weight, the dose of Orencia is calculated as follows:

10 mg/kg (maximum 1,000 mg/dose) on the day prior to transplantation followed by 10 mg/kg (maximum 1,000 mg/dose) on days 5, 14, and 28 post-transplantation.
3. Subcutaneous dosing (for rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis only):

The dose is 125 mg injected subcutaneously once weekly (either self-injected by the patient using the auto-injector form or injected by your doctor using the pre-filled syringe form).

Before starting therapy on Orencia, your doctor should screen you for tuberculosis and hepatitis, as taking Orencia may cause a latent infection activation for either of those infections.

Orencia Side Effects

  • High blood pressure
  • Increase in the serum magnesium
  • Nausea
  • Diarrhea
  • Indigestion
  • Skin Rash
  • Anemia
  • Cytomegalovirus infection
  • Herpes simplex infection
  • Bacterial infection
  • Reactivation of latent Epstein-Barr virus
  • Headache
  • Dizziness
  • Acute kidney injury
  • Bronchitis
  • Inflammation of the sinuses
  • Inflammation of the nasopharynx
  • Pneumonia
  • Upper respiratory infection
  • Cough
  • Stuffy nose

These are not all the side effects that can happen with Orencia. Speak to your pharmacist or doctor if you would like to know more about Orencia.

Insurances Accepted

We accept Medicare, multi-state Medicaid, Medi-Cal, Blue Shield, and most private insurances. Call us to find out more about your coverage.

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(877) 778-0318

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