Switching Glargine Brands

Beck

Beck

Member Since 2018
Does anyone have first hand experience switching between glargine manufacturers? Right now my mom's cat is on glargine made by Sanofi. I'm looking to buy from Mark's Marine Pharmacy and they have a few different manufacturers. Unfortunately Sanofi is the most expensive at $165 for a 5 pack of pens. I'm also seeing one made my Eli Lilly($140) and another by BGP Pharma Inc($130). Anyone who has switched, have you noticed a difference?
 
I do remember @Hendrick Cuddleclaw who switched to Basaglar from Lantus when that is what Mark's offered at the time. I don't think he saw any difference and his kitty was quite well regulated at the time so any difference would have been noticeable. I'm sure there have been others. The new biosimilars have been deemed to be identical.
 
When Basaglar first came out, I volunteered to try it on China so we'd have an idea of if it was going to act any differently than Lantus. China was very tightly controlled at the time and several people thought I'd lost my mind taking a risk like that, but the way I looked at it, because she was so tightly controlled, if the Basaglar was going to act differently, she was the perfect cat to find out.

It did take a few days, but she settled back down and did just as great on Basaglar as she had done on Lantus. If you'd like to see, look on China's 2018 spreadsheet starting on 4/1/18
 
I paid $35 at CVS for Lantus solostar pens 5 pack. I was told the prescription needed to be worded exactly as in this attachment. And I took the coupon generated from the Sanofi website. They applied the coupon as I held my breath and it worked. I was told to say your cat is 18 years old if asked and have no date of birth on the prescription. I hope this helps.
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I tried the savings, but had no luck at any of my local pharmacies. Walgreens said the age thing hung up when I used the one through GoodRX. When I used the savings card directly they said it wouldn't work on pets. Walmart and a local pharmacy straight up refused to try it. Maybe I should have tried CVS too? But I think I'm going to drive my vet insane. Where have people had the most luck?
 
Beck said:
I tried the savings, but had no luck at any of my local pharmacies. Walgreens said the age thing hung up when I used the one through GoodRX. When I used the savings card directly they said it wouldn't work on pets. Walmart and a local pharmacy straight up refused to try it. Maybe I should have tried CVS too? But I think I'm going to drive my vet insane. Where have people had the most luck?
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Did the prescription have a birth date on it? I made sure my prescription did NOT have a date. When they asked me in person I told them 18 and they put that in the system.
Previously I had been told Good Rx won’t work for pets by my regular pharmacy.
I would try a cvs and or another pharmacy.
 
Beck said:
But I think I'm going to drive my vet insane.
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Why? Is he calling them in (or electronically sending script)? Or did he/she write a script. If you can get a written script, if pharmacy A won't accept the Lantus Savings card, get your script back from them and try it at pharmacy B (or C, D, E)

CVS does seem to be the pharmacy I hear the most positive results from in the Feline Diabetes group on Facebook.
 
Thanks for the responses. I don't think the prescription had a birth date on it, but I should check with my vet. Unfortunately I live in a somewhat remote area and my vet is 45 minutes away. My mom didn't get a written prescription. I have had them call in twice, once local and second to Canada. I feel bad as the vet is older and some of the secretaries seem clueless there. One kept trying to insist the pharmacy had to call the vet's office. Maybe I'll try calling the localish CVS and get a read on their attitude towards the coupons.
 
Beck said:
Maybe I'll try calling the localish CVS and get a read on their attitude towards the coupons.
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Yeah, just call them and tell them you have a script for 5 Lantus pens and had a bad case of sticker shock but then you found the Lantus Savings Card that says you can get it for $35. Is that an offer that your pharmacy accepts? Give as few details as possible.

Beck said:
One kept trying to insist the pharmacy had to call the vet's office.
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That's not uncommon these days. If I'm running low on any of the 10+ prescriptions I'm on, my doctors office tells me to have the pharmacy contact them. (it's all done by electronic script now)
 
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