Rapamycin Cost
Let me clear some things up for people considering rapamycin (generic sirolimus). I am taking it and so are my dogs!! (I have a very open-minded vet who trusts my judgement.)
Dr. Green, a very impressive individual, gave me my personal prescription for sirolimus. I have a very good PPO (Blue Cross/Blue Shield). I took it to CVS, the affiliated pharmacy, and got a great price of about $2.90/mg. (Remember, you are only going to take about 3-6 mg/week.) With a PPO you can probably do this also. CVS wants to meter it to you with a month's worth of doses at a time, but that's just how they do things. You still have access to the full quantity prescribed.
With the prescription from my vet for my dogs, I was forced to take to the open sea. Armed with only a prescription and no insurance, the picture is quite different, but you can still get a good price. Cutting to the chase, I ended up at Walmart. The prescription was for 90 mg - price $1440. But wait! after presenting a coupon downloaded from GoodRX (that's right, just anonymously downloaded and printed) - price $396!!!! As my vet remarked, that's a hell of a charge for not looking around first! ($4.40/mg is better than taking a risk buying online, in my opinion.) Costco is pretty close to that price. At CVS/RiteAid, etc., you will pay vastly more.
You can't touch the original drug rapamune (Pfizer) unless you are wealthy or go to Canada. The problem with the online pharmacies is that a lot of them are scams. Just because they have a website doesn't mean anything. At least check to see if they have a brick and mortar location. Example: At one point I was excited by the online infomercials and wanted to take NMN instead of NR; however, when I looked up the reputations of the suppliers only one was unsullied, and on further investigation their brick and mortar location turned out to be a residential dwelling!
FYI, more than one company makes sirolimus. From CVS the sirolimus was made by Greenstone, LLC, apparently a wholly owned subsidiary of Pfizer.
Hope that helps some people who are considering rapamycin but think it might be out of their reach. If you know a doctor, great, but if you don't a visit to Dr. Green is worth the trip, and I live in CA! (round trip less than $300) Do your homework first and you will learn a great deal.
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Thanks Rob! Good info! I bought my first 90 pills online (Sirolimus, Rocas) after chatting w/ one of Dr. Greens patients and paid ~$350. Got a second batch of 60 a few weeks ago for less since the price/pill was the same at 60 and 90. Was trying 3mg (age73) w/ 8 oz. grapefruit juice which is risky I know, especially now that I am back to 6mg, but so far no problems but am looking for more info as I go and may stop the grapefruit juice "activation", it slows metabolism of rap!
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Dennis Since I am nearing retirement I would be interested in where you bought sirolimus online, and how you have confidence in the seller.
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Rob8311 Last fall I obtained a quote from an Indian pharmaceutical distributor called DropshipMD. The price for 300 1 mg tablets was $1.75 each plus a nominal shipping charge to the US. I instead purchased a powder form from a US lab. There was a thread on Longecity where some had purchased from DropshipMD without a problem.
If you want to check out their product:
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Since Dr. Green's patient recommended Wind Pharmacy (India) I figured they were probably OK and I have received two orders from them and they certainly seem like the real thing but overseas is likely riskier but the price was good.
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Dennis Do you have a website address for this company?
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Ozone8
1(718) 395-7740
https://www.windpharmacy.com/ -
Dennis Hmmm... the phone and address for Wind Pharmacy are in New York. I didn't see anything about India. That must mean a prescription is required?
Given the fact Wind is over 2.25 times the price I would likely go with DropshipMD which is in India and did not ask for a prescription. Again, they have been used by posters on Longecity with good results.
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Dennis I got the impression from Dr. Green that he thought Walmart was a less chancier option, but don't quote me. I'm just saying I wouldn't go by that unless you ask Dr. Green.
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Rob8311 Yes, I would assume Walmart would be less chancy but aren't they more expensive and don't they require a script?
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Dennis $398 for 90 mg. It's made by a subsidiary of Pfizer, the maker of rapamune. You need a prescription but that's not impossible. Mermaid provided a list of doctors: http: //health.lifeextension.com/innovative doctors
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Dennis Do they require a prescription?
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Additionally, they make some claims about being certified that I haven't checked out but they sound reassuring.
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Wind didn't require a script and they might have two locations but if dropship is less and legit I might try them in the future.
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How rapamycin should be taken? With meal? On empty stomach? Thanks.
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Instructions say: "You may take sirolimus with or without food, but take it the same way every time." I take mine w/ meals.
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Dennis
Dennis said:
Instructions say: "You may take sirolimus with or without food, but take it the same way every time."This is ridiculous "advice" in the instructions... or it is no advice at all...
So what happens if you take it with food sometimes and without food sometimes ?
Where do they get this, to write such "advice" in the instructions? Or should we all salute and accept it as correct, because somebody wrote it when they wrote the instructions on how to take sirolimus?
And then, somebody else copied it, and somebody else copied that person too, and so now we all repeat it.
In my opinion, take it without food. Let it work alone without interference of fat, or fiber, or stomach acids thrown out to help digest food, etc.
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Ellis Toussier More important than when to take it is Dr. Green has updated his website after he was diagnosed w/ a hypertrophic cardiac condition of some sort recently that he now thinks is the cause for the major improvement he saw when starting rapamycin and the cause of his "aging symptoms" that improved a bunch when he started taking it! If my memory is accurate I believe he said that the drug is likely a lot more effective in this situation (one which I have some experience w/ over 40 yrs. of AFib) than for general aging.
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Thank you Dennis. What about grapefruit juice? Do I have to take or don't take it with rapamycin?
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Probably best to follow Dr. Green's advice and not take grapefruit juice since the evidence is weak of it helping and it complicates things.
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Dennis Fink be aware grapefruit juice can damage muscles if you are taking a statin, as is common in many older people.
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are we there yet Thanks! Hadn't heard that! Other dangers of statins had me quit the one my VA doc recommended several decades back but was reconsidering some when I saw Alan Green, MD. recommending them as part of his anti-aging strategy. It seems as though a pescatarian diet and exercise, etc. has made my cholesterol numbers pretty good!
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Dennis Fink I also quit statins several years ago and began relying on moderate exercise and a pescatarian diet, which has worked out well for me. I belong to an HMO, which has rigid protocols and peddles the standard range of pills. Statins, also nitrates, have been an either-or choice for me. As both have been established as having the potential for serious harm, I no longer take anything my HMO prescribes. That experience partly explains why I'm gun-shy about strong drugs like metformin.
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Don "strong drugs like metformin" ??? Are you kidding? In what way is metformin a "strong drug" ? Metformin lowers your resistance to insulin, so it makes the insulin your body produces a little bit more effective. As far as I know, it has zero side effects... or have you heard of any side effect of metformin ?
Note: I am not a great fan of metformin. But I agree that it is the second best way to control blood glucose.
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Ellis Toussier
If one needs metformin to control blood glucose, I'd say use it. I suppose low-dose metformin without that need for it, should also be OK. I'm only cautioning we shouldn't underestimate the strength of any drug or ignore possible side effects, which are seldom mentioned here. There's a bit of controversy about metformin that I haven't seen reported in Life Extension's publications or at RAADFESTs. Those of us who use it should look to various sources to be well-informed.
"In 2006, for example, a Netherlands-based study tracked 390 Type 2 patients who were taking 850 mg of metformin or a placebo three times daily for an average of 4.3 years. The study found that continued use of metformin increased the risk of a B12 deficiency by 19 percent, and the risk climbed higher for those over 50. The findings suggest that nearly one out of every five people taking metformin might have a B12 deficiency."
https://www.type2nation.com/treatment/metformin-users-risk-vitamin-deficiency/
"Metformin is currently recommended as a first-line therapy for treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus because of its low cost, side-effect profile, and possible systemic benefits. Despite these advantages, cautious use of metformin has been recommended by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) due to safety concerns, including risk for lactic acidosis. Specifically, the label states that metformin is contraindicated at an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) < 30 mL/min/1.73 m2, and it is not recommended to initiate metformin at an eGFR < 45 mL/min/1.73 m2.
Despite these recommendations, the data on the risk for lactic acidosis in patients with CKD on metformin have been conflicting; some studies have shown increased risk while others have not…"
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/902022
Just sayin'.
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Don Okay... I concede the point. I had never heard of metformin causing vitamin B-12 deficiency, but now I have heard of it. Thanks for pointing it out.
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Ellis Toussier
You're welcome. I appreciate your contributions here, and the helpful posts of many others.
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