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.

    Like 4
    • Engadin Zermatt Thanks for the site. My supplier as well. I did reorder a couple of weeks back via Alibaba, but that might not be possible moving forward.

      Like 1
    • Engadin Zermatt Engadin Zermatt

      I wonder if you have a special contact person at Wuhan Hengheda Pharm Co? Or do you use the company email? 

      Like 1
    • Staffan Olsson Yes, Sanny Zhang. And I have this message from them since April this year:

      "Hi, this is Sanny from Wuhan HHD Pharm, manufacturer of nootropics, anti hairloss, sports nutrition and herbal extracts.

      Our shop might be closed by Alibaba since May,2021, our business will be transferred to other web, in case you have any products interested that would like to inquiry from us in the future, pls contact email/skype: hhdpharm05@outlook.com, thank you.

      whatsapp: +86-13129973353"

      If you want to mention me as a reference I am Gonzalo Yebenes.

      I guess the new web she mention is made-in-china.com.

      Like 1
    • Steve Roedde 

      At the moment I don鈥檛 use rapamycin but will try o buy rapamycin powder from China and I would be grateful to hear how other people make sure they ingest the right amount powder.

       

      I would like to avoid dealing with the powder in mg doses. This even if I have the option of using a mg scale.  I would like to find a better way to take the right amount without dealing with a scale every single time.  

       

      I see that rapamycin is sold in ready made solutions with DMSO. That makes me think that one way of administering rapamycin powder bought from China is to make your own DMSO solution. Any ideas about this and if it is a useful approach. I am concerned about the stability in DMSO oand how long it can be stored in DMSO?

       

      https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/SE/en/product/sigma/r8781

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    • Staffan Olsson It鈥檚 pretty simple. You mix 1 gram of Rapamycin with one kilo of lactose (I posted instructions somewhere on this site). You do indeed need a mg scale to weigh the Rapamycin.. to make sure it鈥檚 exactly one gram... a kitchen scale probably close enough for the lactose. This will give you 1 mg of Rapamycin in one GRAM of lactose. Then weigh the weekly dose you want to take. Measure the volume (5 mg likely ~ a tsp). Then just measure the volume. If you get 5.5 mg one weeknand 4.5 mg the next, it probably doesn鈥檛 matter! That鈥檚 the way I do it. 

      Like 1
    • Staffan Olsson Steve Roedde I used chat feature on Alibaba. Whoever they have answer the main chat immediately routed my query another person that negotiated my order, after I stated what I was looking to source.

      As for mixing it down, I've been surprised no one has gone with solutions. I'm concerned about getting a homogeneous mixture putting 1 gram of fine powder into 1 kilogram of another fine powder. Rapa is water insoluable, but it dissolves in both DSMO and ethanol. With a solution, there's no mess and hassle filling capsule and finely adjusting one's dose is trivial too.

      My plan is to mix 1.5 g into 750mL Everclear. That will give me 2mg/mL or 10mg/tsp. It hadn't occurred to me before now that the rapamycin molecule might decompose in solution, but now that I think about it, I suppose that's a possibility. If anyone knows if that is true, please let me know.

      Again, I'm surprised solutions are not the most common approach. Is there a reason besides pills are what doctors, pharmacists, and customers are most used to dealing with... if you're dealing with the general public pills are preferable because people are less likely to mess up the measurement.

      Like 1
      • Keith A.
      • tricone
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Steve Roedde Probably a silly question, but what if you are lactose-intolerant?

       

      Also, to clarify, you stated that you mix 1 gram of rapamycin with 1 *kilogram* (2.2lbs) of lactose?

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    • Keith Abe you can use another filler (dextrose for example),  if lactose is really a problem, although 5 grams probably won鈥檛 be an issue. You could mix it at 2:1, 1000 mg (1 gram) of rapamycin, in 500 grams (1/2 kg) of lactose (or dextrose), giving you 2 mg Rapamycin per 1 gram of lactose. 

      The final dose at 5 mg per week would then be around a half tsp. 

      As it turns out, I had to mix another batch, and only had dextrose around. It worked fine, but is awfully sweet (the rapa is pretty tasteless). I made it 2:1 to refuse the glucose load. 

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      • Keith A.
      • tricone
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Steve Roedde Thanks for the reply, Steve. I admit that I am having a difficult time imagining how I can add 1 gram of rapamycin (or any powder) with 500 grams of another powder, and have the smaller amount of substance x integrate uniformly with the greater amount of substance y. Is there a secret to mixing the two together?

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    • Keith Abe I posted that elsewhere on the forum. Briefly. You get a stainless steel bowl, mix by hand, for 10 minutes. 1 gram of Rapamycin with 10 grams of lactose. Then you add, say, 50 grams of lactose, another ten minutes, then 100 grams of lactose, then the rest of the lactose. The early dilutions are most critical to ensure even mixing. You can put the whole lot in two ziplocked bags at the end, and do more mixing while watching a video or something. Make sure the humidity is low.

      Like 1
      • Keith A.
      • tricone
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Steve Roedde Thank you!

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      • Van
      • Van
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Steve Roedde I have had experience mixing rapa and lactose powders with good results.  Here is a video showing the correct way to do it. 

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-3DoyKy0zE They are using a mortar and pestle, but a SS spoon and large bowl work very well. It takes time (2.5 hours for me to mix 1.5 grams rapa with 500 grams of lactose) You are basically doubling the mixture in bowl in each cycle mixing well between cycles. I now have a 2-3 yr supply. I store my rapa mixture in a glass container in the freezer and take out appx. 3 months supply in a small container for the fridge. 500 grams of lactose was really too much, 250 would have been enough in order to weigh accurately. I weigh mixture with a jewelers scale (1/1000 accuracy) from Amazon that cost around $30. Plenty accurate for this. 500,000 mg/1500 mg = 333.333 mg of mixture to equal 1 mg rapa. So 5 mg rapa dose = 5 x 333.333 = 1,665 mg. or 1.65 grams of mixture to weigh on scale. Weigh in a small plastic container, tip it up into mouth and wash down with a little water. No problem.

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    • Van useful. Similar method. Because I found weighing it every day a POA, having a larger proportion of lactose (or whatever), convenient because the volume is easier to measure with a spoon, I did it that way.

      When I started I was taking the rapa daily (it鈥檚 for treatment not longevity). I鈥檇 weigh the daily dose3-4 times, see what the volume was and consume that. My trough levels were always the same confirming adequate mixing as well as accurate enough dosing. 

      With weekly dosing, weighing would not be an inconvenience.

      The jewellers scale is of course critical for the initial rapa weight. I had ordered 1 gram ... but was sent over 3.4 grams of rapa. 

      I was more descriptive of the with my other post on compounding ... but it could be anywhere on this site. I thought it was on this thread, but apparently not. 

      I just knock back the dry powder too. One great mind (you) and I... think alike馃槈. 

      Make a great day. 

      Steve

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      • Van
      • Van
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Steve Roedde I also might mention, I use the grapefruit juice protocol to take rapa mixture, and follow the dosing schedule of Dr. Blagosklonny and Green.  They are taking 20 mg rapa every 12-14 days to get "spike" of rapa into the brain to get max longevity benefits.  The high dose allows the rapa to get past the blood brain barrier into the brain where aging is regulated.  I do get sores on mouth/tongue when I increase my rapa dose to 8 mg., but anything below that zero side-effects.  Been on rapa for 4 years.  This GFJ protocol increases dosage to 300-350%.  I purposely wanted to check if I had actually received rapa from China or not.  There is Sirolimus in my mixture for sure.  If you think about the high dose, it is not much different than taking 7-10 mg weekly which many do.

      Like
    • Steve Roedde Inositol works as well. Many years ago when I had a health food store various people would purchase it to cut various illegal substances with

      Like
  • 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 BurtDebra A TireyLisa E WilliamsBarbara R KuzmakDavid T StantonKenneth L MorandSandra L Nelson

    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.

    Like 1
    • Steve Roedde I see it's listed for sale in a solution with DMSO. So, probably doesn't degrade immediately.

      https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/US/en/product/sigma/r8781

      In any case, moot for me at least for the next year since I mixed 1 gram into some potato starch I had handy. I made it so 1/4 tsp is 10 mg rapamycin. I plan to take that weekly to start and may adjust if I feel the need.

      I have one lingering issue with my knee and elbow joints I'd like to see resolve. If that happens I'd be quite pleased.

      Like 1
    • Liam_Cohen I see this "Unless otherwise indicated, solutions are probably best prepared fresh and protected from light."

       

      R0395pis.DOC (sigmaaldrich.com)

       

      It would suit me to have rapamycin in DMSO solution. I will look for further information about storage and degrading.  

      Like
  • So far, my insurance is covering my (5mg/week) sirolimus costs, so I am paying close to nothing.

    Like 1
  • Mark Rittman,

    Which physician prescribes 5mg per week? What is the ICD 10 code? I would like to become a patient.

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    • Robert
    • Robert.1
    • 3 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Dr. Alan Green in New York. You need to visit him.

    https://rapamycintherapy.com/

    Like 1
  • Actually, I just googled "rapamycin online prescription."  There are plenty of options now.

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      • ssny. sotero
      • Marketing and Visual Impact Display Specialist
      • sandra_sotero
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Mark Rittman What is a rapamycin online prescription?

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