An assistance program offered by Pfizer Inc., the huge drugmaker with significant Michigan operations, will help many unemployed Americans continue receiving their prescription medicines when the program goes live Wednesday.
"Maintain" is being launched by Pfizer, which operates sites in Kalamazoo County. Maintain is a unique program that helps newly unemployed Americans without prescription coverage and in financial need continue to get their Pfizer medicine free of charge for up to 12 months or until they become insured, whichever comes first. People enrolled in Maintain can get access to more than 70 medicines that treat a range of chronic health conditions.
“Michigan is especially hard hit by the recession, meaning thousands of people are without work and without the medicines they need," said Frank Foley, Kalamazoo site leader for Pfizer Global Manufacturing. "Pfizer is doing its part to help through Maintain, an idea championed by Pfizer colleagues. We make important medicines in Kalamazoo that will be available through this program.”
Kalamazoo County hosts Pfizer’s largest manufacturing site in the world, specializing in sterile injectables, nonsterile liquids and semisolids, active pharmaceutical ingredients and sterile surgical sponges; the company’s global research center for veterinary medicines; and Pfizer’s North American business records center.
Foley said the inspiration for Mantain came from Pfizer employees who were witnessing friends, family and neighbors struggle to make ends meet after losing their jobs.
Maintain is part of Pfizer Helpful Answers, a family of patient assistance programs that helps uninsured and underinsured Americans get Pfizer medicines for free or at a savings. Today, it is the largest and most extensive initiative in the United States. In 2008, more than 20,600 Michigan patients received $25 million worth of prescriptions for free or at a discount through Pfizer Helpful Answers.
To be eligible for Maintain, applicants must be able to demonstrate loss of employment since Jan. 1, 2009; lack of prescription coverage; attest to financial hardship; and be on Pfizer medicine for at least three months prior to unemployment and enrolling in the program. For more information, to enroll, or to find out if you qualify for this or other assistance programs, contact Pfizer Helpful Answers at (866) 706-2400 or www.PfizerHelpfulAnswers.com.
Through Pfizer Helpful Answers in 2008, more than 20,600 uninsured people in Michigan received $25 million worth of Pfizer medicines for free or at a savings.
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