Buying Insulin In Canada Without A Prescription (btc)
With insulin prices skyrocketing, no wonder the diabetic community is taking to social media to network and share their experiences as they swap tips and tricks not only for moral support, but also financial. This month, we received an interesting consumer comment via our Facebook page asking if we knew that Americans are driving to Canada to buy insulin without a prescription. Well, no. As our primary focus is mail-order pharmacy, it wasn’t on our radar. Nevertheless, it sparked our interest and we’d like to share our findings with the PharmacyChecker community. After calling 20 pharmacies across Canada (specifically in the following cities: Québec City, Toronto, Alberta, Victoria, Winnipeg and Regina) the answer is clear: Americans can obtain insulin without a prescription in Canada. All pharmacists that I called reported—rather matter-of-factly—that you do not need a prescription for any insulin product, which would include Lantus Solostar, Humalog and Levemir. We specifically talked about Lantus Solostar, a popular, long-acting insulin. The price in Canada for a three-month supply of Lantus Solostar (3 ml) is currently around $447.00 while the average retail price in the U.S. is a staggering $1,160.39. Apparently, they practice what they preach: all patients—including Americans—do not need a prescription to obtain insulin in Canada. While a prescription is not needed, the drugs are available only from the pharmacist and must be retained within an area of the pharmacy where there is no public access and no opportunity for patient self-selection (also known in the U.S. as Behind the Counter (BTC). There are some important nuances about insulin sales in Canada that might interest you. To start, insulin is not on the Health Canada Prescription Drug List. He Continue reading >>
How Do I Get Lantus Insulin Less Expensively?
November 2, 2013-- How do I get Lantus Insulin Less Expensively? DCIN receives this question a few times a week from US caregivers of diabetic cats. I am often amazed by the question because of the “good” insulins for diabetic cats, Lantus can be the least expensive per unit. The problem often lies in knowing how to find the insulin inexpensively. (The hints I give also apply to Levemir, another human insulin often used by diabetic cats.) Your vet gave you a prescription that probably read “U100 Glargine/Lantus 10ml vial.” Lantus is the brand name for the generic insulin Glargine. Lantus is an insulin for humans and is only available from a human pharmacy (although some vets do hold some in stock). The company Sanofi makes Lantus, and no other companies currently make a generic Glargine because Sanofi still has an international patent on the insulin. That may change in 2014, and by then Sanofi may have developed a “second-generation” Lantus that is patent protected. Lantus is a U100 insulin, which describes the concentration of the insulin in the liquid suspension. A 10ml vial is the insulin’s containment device. It is a small glass bottle with a rubber stopper at the end that you pierce with a syringe. At a US retail pharmacy, a 10ml vial of Lantus can cost about $180 to $200. WOWZA! That does seem cause for sticker shock. A 10ml vial of U100 insulin holds 1000 units of insulin. At $200/vial, that is a price of $.20/unit. If your cat gets 2 units of insulin twice a day, that is $.80/day for its insulin (if you could completely use a vial of Lantus insulin). It would cost less each day to give your cat its life-saving medicine that to buy a soda from a vending machine. However, the problem with buying Lantus in a 10ml vial is that, properly handled, Lantus Continue reading >>
Need Advice About Getting Insulin From Canada
Need advice about getting insulin from Canada Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please,join our community todayto contribute and support the site. This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies. Need advice about getting insulin from Canada For starters, I am looking for insulin for my son, who is 19 and has had T1 for 11 years. He is currently taking lantus and humalog (lispro)... My husband just lost his job, despite assurances that we would maintain all our benefits for 6 months before starting COBRA... we were locked out of our online Medco account this am. Our son is "a week or so" away from being out of humalog. Medco is our pharmacy, so the insurance won't cover the Rx if we try to fill it somewhere else. A call to the benefits administrator at my husband's ex-employer said the paperwork is just delayed, 'about a week'... what that means for the insulin getting to my house - time line - I have no idea. It's always been a mess getting my sons Rx's filled and now its a freak show! Good grief! So anyway, we are just wanting to buy some insulin from Canada. its only $40/vial (10ml) But I have consistentley heard bad things about buying Rx's online. Does anyone have any experience with buying meds from Canada??? Buying insulin from a "Canadian" pharmacy is risky. Most of these pharmacies you see online are actually not in Canada, but are drugs being purchased from China and are risky drugs. Call your doctor and ask for sample pens. If he has none to give you, you can call the pharmaceutical company and they have low cost programs for the unemployed. Free clinics can also help your son if he is not employed. Because of his age, you can check your state Medicaid offices for help. Worst case scenario, you can purchase some NPH insulin for Continue reading >>
How To Get Insulin At A Cheaper Price
Insulin can be expensive. If you’re one of the 6 million Americans with diabetes relying on this main-stay treatment, you could be paying out-of-pocket costs anywhere from $120 to $400 per month, according to a 2015 New England Journal of Medicine commentary. Drugs such as Lantus (insulin glargine) and Levemir (insulin detemir) have seen significant cost increases, according to a recent trend report by pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts. One reason for the high prices is the lack of generic options for insulin. So for now, you’re stuck having to search around to find affordable options. Where do you shop for more affordable insulin? For some people though, high drug costs can mean making difficult financial choices. Our national polls show people might cut back on groceries and paying bills to pay for their medications. To minimize your costs, consider these options: Prescription Assistance Programs If you don’t have health insurance or are without drug coverage, look into applying for a patient assistance program (PAP). Through the nonprofit NeedyMeds, you can find some programs that offer free or low-cost insulin as long as you meet the eligibility requirements. Those are usually based on your insurance status, income, and diagnosis. You might also qualify for a diagnosis-specific program that can help you save on syringes, pumps, and other diabetes supplies. Pharmacists are also a great resource and can help you find a PAP that meets your financial needs. Switch Drugs Another way to save is by asking your doctor whether there’s a lower-priced insulin that’s right for you. While “long-acting” is a more popular type of insulin, it's also more expensive, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it works better. “It’s mostly a marketing ploy,” says M Continue reading >>
How Do I Get Lantus (or Basaglar Or Levemir) Less Expensively?
DCIN has received this question hundreds of times over the last few years. Truthfully, Lantus is actually the cheapest insulin per unit of insulin; the problem lies in the upfront costs. So this article will discuss ways to reduce the upfront cost of Lantus or Levemir. Let’s talk about Lantus. Lantus is an insulin that was designed for once-per-day use in humans. It turns out that Lantus, when dosed twice per day, is excellent at controlling feline diabetes and getting cats into remission. The generic name for Lantus is insulin glargine. There is no true generic version of Lantus but there is a biosimilar drug that was released in 2016 called Basaglar. Lantus is manufactured by Sanofi which is a profit-driven company. Lantus is a U-100 insulin (100 units of insulin per 1 mL of fluid). Lantus comes in 10 mL vials or 3 mL pens. Lantus is prescription only in the United States, OTC in Canada. Lantus should be refrigerated at all times. Lantus should be handled gently. Lantus that is refrigerated and handled gently can last 3-6 months from date of first use. The price of Lantus at a pharmacy in the United States is approximately $220 for a vial and $285 for a 5-pack of the pens. Are you suffering from sticker shock? The price of Novolin N or Vetsulin might seem more doable right now but let’s consider these facts. Novolin N is $26 at Walmart and Vetsulin is about $45 from your vet. Each of them is only good for about 30-45 days from the date of first use. Your annual cost for a cat on a typical dose of insulin is $208-$312 for Novalin and $360-$540 for Vetsulin. Only the start-up costs are lower. The annual costs are much higher, these insulins have less success at remission, these insulins may require dosing more frequently than every 12 hours. The annual price of Lant Continue reading >>
Levemir - Insulin Detemir
How does this medication work? What will it do for me? Insulin is a naturally occurring hormone made by the pancreas that helps our body use or store the glucose (sugar) it gets from food. For people with diabetes, either the pancreas does not make enough insulin to meet the body's requirements or the body cannot properly use the insulin that is made. As a result, glucose cannot be used or stored properly and accumulates in the bloodstream. Insulin injected under the skin helps to lower blood glucose levels. Insulin detemir is used to treat adults and children over 2 years of age with type 1 diabetes mellitus who require a long-acting insulin. It is also used to treat adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus who require a long-acting insulin. There are many different types of insulin and they are absorbed at different rates and work for varying periods of time. Insulin detemir is an extended, long-acting insulin. It begins to work a few hours after injection, and the effects last up to 24 hours. After injection, insulin detemir is released slowly and constantly into the bloodstream. This medication may be available under multiple brand names and/or in several different forms. Any specific brand name of this medication may not be available in all of the forms or approved for all of the conditions discussed here. As well, some forms of this medication may not be used for all of the conditions discussed here. Your doctor may have suggested this medication for conditions other than those listed in these drug information articles. If you have not discussed this with your doctor or are not sure why you are being given this medication, speak to your doctor. Do not stop using this medication without consulting your doctor. Do not give this medication to anyone else, even if they h Continue reading >>
Levemir
How does this medication work? What will it do for me? Insulin is a naturally occurring hormone made by the pancreas that helps our body use or store the glucose (sugar) it gets from food. For people with diabetes, either the pancreas does not make enough insulin to meet the body's requirements or the body cannot properly use the insulin that is made. As a result, glucose cannot be used or stored properly and accumulates in the bloodstream. Insulin injected under the skin helps to lower blood glucose levels. Insulin detemir is used to treat adults and children over 2 years of age with type 1 diabetes mellitus who require a long-acting insulin. It is also used to treat adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus who require a long-acting insulin. There are many different types of insulin and they are absorbed at different rates and work for varying periods of time. Insulin detemir is an extended, long-acting insulin. It begins to work a few hours after injection, and the effects last up to 24 hours. After injection, insulin detemir is released slowly and constantly into the bloodstream. This medication may be available under multiple brand names and/or in several different forms. Any specific brand name of this medication may not be available in all of the forms or approved for all of the conditions discussed here. As well, some forms of this medication may not be used for all of the conditions discussed here. Your doctor may have suggested this medication for conditions other than those listed in these drug information articles. If you have not discussed this with your doctor or are not sure why you are being given this medication, speak to your doctor. Do not stop using this medication without consulting your doctor. Do not give this medication to anyone else, even if they ha Continue reading >>
Getting Started With Insulin
If you have been talking about getting started on insulin with your doctor, or if taking insulin is new to you, you may have questions or concerns. The following guide will help you understand the types of insulin, options for taking insulin, how and where to inject insulin, and insulin care and storage. Insulin pens Your pen comes with an instruction book. Please review it to understand how your pen works, how to load the cartridge and how to prepare your pen for an insulin injection. Mixing insulin Insulin that is cloudy (NPH, premixed) needs to be mixed before using. The pen should be rolled ten times, tipped ten times and checked for a milky-white consistency. Check insulin flow (prime) Attach pen needle. Dial up two units and, with pen tip facing upwards, push the dosing button. If no stream of insulin appears, repeat with another two units. Giving your injection After you have checked the insulin flow, dial up the dose of insulin to be taken. Insert pen tip into skin at a 90º angle. Push the dosing button until you see ‘0’. Count 10 seconds before removing the needle from your skin to ensure you receive the full dose. With longer needles (≥ 8mm), you may need to gently lift the skin before injection. Insulin injection sites Site Pros Cons Abdomen (tummy) Stay 2 inches (5 cm) away from your belly button Easy to reach; insulin absorbs fast and consistently None Buttock and thigh Slower absorption rate than from abdomen and arm sites Slower absorption; absorption can be affected by exercise Outer arm After abdomen, arm provides the next fastest absorption rate Harder to reach for self-injections NOTE: It is really important to change (rotate) where you give yourself insulin to prevent fatty lumps from forming since these can affect how your body absorbs insuli Continue reading >>
Today Is The Day
Do not share your Levemir® FlexTouch® with other people, even if the needle has been changed. You may give other people a serious infection, or get a serious infection from them. Who should not take Levemir®? Do not take Levemir® if: you have an allergy to Levemir® or any of the ingredients in Levemir®. How should I take Levemir®? Read the Instructions for Use and take exactly as directed. Know the type and strength of your insulin. Do not change your insulin type unless your health care provider tells you to. Check your blood sugar levels. Ask your health care provider what your blood sugar levels should be and when you should check them. Do not reuse or share your needles with other people. You may give other people a serious infection, or get a serious infection from them. Never inject Levemir® into a vein or muscle. Do not share your Levemir FlexTouch with other people, even if the needle has been changed. You may give other people a serious infection, or get a serious infection from them. Who should not take Levemir®? Do not take Levemir® if: you have an allergy to Levemir® or any of the ingredients in Levemir®. Before taking Levemir®, tell your health care provider about all your medical conditions including, if you are: pregnant, plan to become pregnant, or are breastfeeding. taking new prescription or over-the-counter medicines, including supplements. Talk to your health care provider about how to manage low blood sugar. How should I take Levemir®? Read the Instructions for Use and take exactly as directed. Know the type and strength of your insulin. Do not change your insulin type unless your health care provider tells you to. Check your blood sugar levels. Ask your health care provider what your blood sugar levels should be and when you should ch Continue reading >>
Research: Buying Insulin Out Of Pocket Without Insurance
Research: buying insulin out of pocket without insurance There is nothing that worries me more than thinking that my son may one day (when I am dead) be without insurance. @Sam also felt that we would not be #UNLIMITED if we did not feel able to work through lack of insurance. @Sam approached me, and we decided to work together to look into the best ways to buy analog insulin without insurance in the US. The bulk of the research was done by @Sam . My portion was largely that of fact-checker and number-cruncher. First we investigated US prices in different locations and for different insulins. We quickly found out that using GoodRx negotiated prices was always cheaper than the listed price we got on the phone or in person. So we switched to using GoodRx for pricing info. We also found out that one has to be very thorough and careful when investigating GoodRx pricing, because there are several dropdowns with search options for every med, and one has to check every combination of options to get to the best prices. GoodRx is an organization that negotiates prices of (prescription) medicines with retailers and issues any internet user with coupons that will provide discounts on medicine prices. To obtain GoodRx pricing, search for the medicine you need on the GoodRx web site, print the coupon and present it to the pharmacy chain for which it applies (or simply show that coupon to the pharacy on your phone) A note: GoodRX pricing online is not accurate. Though they will tell you it is a negotiated price and is accurate, it depends on pharmacy and region. I use it often and find the price with GoodRx discount, at Walgreens, is usually less than they show. And in my travels, I have found the prices vary by region in the app. That said, I will call you guys out for faulty resea Continue reading >>
Can I Get Help To Pay For My Diabetes Medications And Supplies?
Government of Canada activities and initiatives Funding: Call for Concepts to Increase awareness and take-up of the Canada Learning Bond. Continue reading >>
Buy Levemir Flextouch Pens Online
Insulin Levemir FlexTouch Pens 100 Unit/mL 5×3 mL QTY TYPE PRICE COST PER UNIT 1 100 UNIT/ML 5X3ML $210.63 $210.63 2 100 UNIT/ML 5X3ML $382.96 $191.48 3 100 UNIT/ML 5X3ML $555.27 $185.09 4 100 UNIT/ML 5X3ML $727.60 $181.90 VIEW ALL INSULIN PRODUCTS PLACE A NEW INSULIN ORDER What is Levemir FlexTouch Pen? It is a pre-filled insulin pen filled with Insulin Detemir, which is a long-acting human insulin analog. Insulin analogs are man-made versions of naturally occurring insulin that have been slightly modified to change some of its characteristics. Insulin Detemir is nearly identical to naturally occurring insulin, with a minor modification that allows it to be quickly absorbed in your body then slowly released for a long duration of action. It is a basal, or background insulin that provides blood sugar control evenly for the entire day. Levemir has been associated with having a lower risk of causing weight gain than other insulin analogs. The Levemir FlexTouch Pen is a convenient option to administer your insulin. It comes pre-filled with Insulin Detemir and an adjustable dose setting dial for accurate dosing from 1 to 80 units with a large and clear dose display. It also has a low force push button and a lower injection force than other insulin pens. Once opened Levemir can last up to 42 days without refrigeration once in use. The Levemir FlexTouch Pen is available in the 100 unit/mL 5×3 mL pen. What is it used for? Levemir (insulin detemir) is used to help improve blood sugar level regulation in adults and children with diabetes mellitus. It is specifically is used for the treatment of: Type 1 diabetes in adults, adolescents and children who are 2 years old and over Type 2 diabetes in adults when insulin is required for the control of high blood sugar Type 2 diabetes Continue reading >>
The Cost Of Insulin
The price of insulin has more than tripled in ten years. Not everybody pays full price, but many find the cost of insulin complicates their life. This week, we’ll cover why insulin prices are so high. Next week, we’ll address what to do about it. According to this story on CBS News, people with diabetes are “cutting back [on their insulin doses] or even going without the drug,” putting them at greater risk for complications. Insulin costs have soared from $100–$200 per month a few years ago to $400–$500 a month now. CBS News quotes a college student saying her bill for insulin has risen from $130 to $495 per month. She has given up her insulin pump and gone back to injections because of expense. One of her friends has cut her dose down to 80% of what’s ordered to save money. This has become common practice for many. A doctor in Montana reported that insulin prices greatly complicate people’s care. “I have patients who tell me that they have to make a decision between food and insulin, and their rent and insulin.” Why is this happening? When insulin was discovered the 1920s, the doctors who found it gave it away. It immediately started saving lives for people with Type 1 diabetes. Now insulin has become a $24-billion-a-year market globally and is predicted to pass $48 billion in only five more years. And people around the world who need it can’t afford it. There are several causes for the price spikes, but many of them come down to America’s pretend “free market” approach to health care. We are seeing these problems now with the controversy over one brand of epinephrine injections, whose manufacturer increased their price by 500% and then paid their CEO a nearly $19 million salary. Here are some ways American economics are making insulin unaff Continue reading >>
Why Is Insulin So Expensive In The U.s.?
Dr. Jeremy Greene sees a lot of patients with diabetes that's out of control. In fact, he says, sometimes their blood sugar is "so high that you can't even record the number on their glucometer." Greene, a professor of medicine and history of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, started asking patients at his clinic in Baltimore why they had so much trouble keeping their blood sugar stable. He was shocked by their answer: the high cost of insulin. Greene decided to call some local pharmacies, to ask about low-cost options. He was told no such options existed. "Only then did I realize there is no such thing as generic insulin in the United States in the year 2015," he says. Greene wondered why that was the case. Why was a medicine more than 90 years old so expensive? He started looking into the history of insulin, and has published a paper about his findings in this week's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The story of insulin, it turns out, starts back in the late 1800s. That's when scientists discovered a link between diabetes and damaged cells in the pancreas — cells that produce insulin. In the early 1920s, researchers in Toronto extracted insulin from cattle pancreases and gave it to people who had diabetes, as part of a clinical trial. The first patient was a 14-year-old boy, who made a dramatic recovery. Most others recovered as well. Soon, insulin from pigs and cattle was being produced and sold on a massive scale around the world. But for some, the early forms of the medicine weren't ideal. Many people required multiple injections every day, and some developed minor allergic reactions. Over the next few decades, scientists figured out how to produce higher-quality insulin, Greene says. They made the drug purer, so recipients had fewer bad reaction Continue reading >>
Cost-effectiveness Of Insulin Detemir Compared To Nph Insulin For Type 1 And Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus In The Canadian Payer Setting: Modeling Analysis.
Abstract OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to quantify the long-term cost-effectiveness of insulin detemir (Levemir) versus intermediate-acting neutral protamine Hagedorn (NPH) insulin for the treatment of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Canada, and to assess the sensitivity of results to dis-utilities for hypoglycemic events. dagger Levemir is a trade name of Novo Nordisk, Princeton, NJ, USA RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: The web-based IMS-CORE diabetes model has a menu-driven interface programmed in hypertext markup language (HTML). It was used to project lifetime (60 years for T1DM and 35 years for T2DM) clinical and economic outcomes for patients on detemir vs. NPH. Cohort characteristics, utilities, and costs were derived from published literature. For T1DM, clinical trial data for HbA(1c) improvement (detemir -0.94% +/- 1.07; NPH -0.82% +/- 1.01) from baseline, and rates of hypoglycemic events (major events: 0.20 vs. 0.80 per patient-year for detemir vs. NPH, respectively) were modeled. For T2DM, observational study data for HbA(1c) improvement (detemir -0.18%) from baseline, and reductions in hypoglycemic events (major events: 0.0995 vs. 1.33 per patient-year for detemir vs. NPH, respectively) were modeled. Base-case hypoglycemia dis-utilities were -0.0118 for major and -0.0035 for minor events. Sensitivity analyses were conducted on discount rate and hypoglycemia dis-utility. OUTCOME MEASURES: Outcomes included costs of treatment/management and costs (and incidence) of diabetes-related complications. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were calculated from differences in total costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs). RESULTS: Average total costs for T1DM were $CAN 83 622 +/- 4585 for detemir and $CAN 72 016 Continue reading >>
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