November 01, 2011 | Case

Judicial Watch v. Department of Health and Human Services (No. 11-002) - documents regarding Medicare review of Provenge

Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to force the agency to comply with a FOIA request for documents regarding the decision to place the prostate cancer vaccine Provenge under review. Provenge has been shown to extend life expectancy by an average of 4 months. The treatment costs $93,000 and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and FDA are legally prevented from denying coverage for medication due to cost, so Judicial Watch is interested in finding out why the CMS put the drug under a one year investigative review.