Prednisone from what I understand is cortisol. You have to taper off of Prednisone, because you need to give your body a chance to start making its own cortisol after feeding it manufactured cortisol. I was on the relatively high dose of 60mg per day, but even the little packet of Prednisone you are prescribed for a chest cold has a taper schedule. Acthar on the other hand is an injection of ACTH (a hormone usually produced in the pituitary gland) which tells your body to produce cortisol. Among many other things, elevated cortisol acts to suppress the immune system. This is the reason I was prescribed Acthar. It is an expensive one. This one little vial represented 5 doses when I was at my max dosage.
Each month I received two vials which my insurance covered in full. The cost of the two vials combined is $52,000. No that is not a typo. That would be $5,200 per injection. Needless to say I couldn't have paid for the 4 months I was on this drug out of pocket. Luckily I only had to do 2 injections per week.
I was also lucky enough not to get a great big moon face with this one. I think it did help me gain back some of the weight I lost while swollen and on Prednisone which is a good thing. Wait...what did I just say? :)
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