It is time to reexamine the funding practices for immunosuppressive medications in the United States, according to a perspective piece published online Feb. 1 in The New England Journal of Medicine.

"The lack of funding for essential immunosuppressants for many Medicare patients also contrasts sharply with Medicare's provision of funding for lifelong dialysis," John S. Gill, MD, of the University of British Columbia, and Marcello Tonelli, MD, of the University of Alberta.
 "Although it is a lifesaving treatment for kidney failure, dialysis produces poorer outcomes than transplantation and is far more expensive on a yearly basis than immunosuppressant regimens. Yet patients must revert to this more costly and less effective treatment when their renal allografts fail."

Read the full article here.