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 $300) Do your homework first and you will learn a great deal.
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Check this site: https://www.made-in-china.com. My only chinese rapa provider, Wuhan Hengheda Pharm Co., sells it no more at Alibaba, but does sell it in this new site for 110$/gram, providing door to door shipping. Surprisingly, if I want to buy rapa from that very same provider, to pay for it they give me a link @Alibaba 馃槉. BTW, I am european.
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Well, no reason other than it just seemed simpler for me... Your concern about stability is reasonable. You might have to do some reading... or discuss with a pharmacist. I am a simple man.. who prefers simple solutions... and powder to powder seemed simple...
J Biomol Screen
2003 Apr;8(2):205-9.doi: 10.1177/1087057103252617.
The effect of room-temperature storage on the stability of compounds in DMSO
Barbara A Kozikowski 1 , Thomas M Burt, Debra A Tirey, Lisa E Williams, Barbara R Kuzmak, David T Stanton, Kenneth L Morand, Sandra L Nelson
- PMID: 12844442
- DOI: 10.1177/1087057103252617
Abstract
The stability of approximately 7200 compounds stored as 20-mM DMSO solutions under ambient conditions was monitored for 1 year. Compound integrity was measured by flow injection analysis using positive and negative electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. Each sample was assessed at the beginning of the study, after 12 months of storage, and at a randomized time point between the initial and final time points of the study. The relationship between length of storage and the probability of observing the compound was described by a repeated-measures logistic regression model. The probability of observing the compound was 92% after 3 months of storage at room temperature, 83% after 6 months, and 52% after 1 year in DMSO. An acceptable limit for compound loss and corresponding maximum storage time for samples in DMSO can be determined based on these results.