? Has anyone heard of BASAGLAR (insulin glargine)?

[Amanda and a Loudogg]

Hello all,
I had a vet visit today and my vet was very receptive to changing Lou's insulin. She told me there were multiple brands of glargine, including one called Basaglar. This insulin currently has a deal where "eligible patients with commercial insurance can pay as little as $5/month with the BASAGLAR Savings Card*" "*Applies to each of your first 24 prescriptions. Boehringer Ingelheim and Lilly pay up to $150/month. "

Has anyone heard anything about this insulin?

 

[Stacy & Asia]

@Chris & China has used it

 

[Steph & Quintus & L & O]

Glargine is glargine!

 

[Stacy & Asia]

Glargine is glargine!

They are not the exact same, some ingredients are different outside of Glargine. My (human) friend was forced to switch to it by her insurance company from Lantus and she had trouble regulating with it. I know Chris didn’t have issues and thought it was great, but my point is, it’s not Lantus and generic Lantus, it’s Lantus and another slightly different Glargine insulin.

 

[Sandi and Toby]

Does anyone know what the current status is of a true generic version of Lantus? Years ago it was expected to gave hit the market by now. Different websites say that it is either technical issues or legal issues, so I don't know which.

 

[Stacy & Asia]

Does anyone know what the current status is of a true generic version of Lantus? Years ago it was expected to gave hit the market by now. Different websites say that it is either technical issues or legal issues, so I don't know which.

I wouldn’t hold your breath. If it ever arrives, it would only be very slightly less expensive than Lantus anyway. There would have to be several generic versions of it to actually drive the price down to something reasonable. Considering there are only 3 major pharmaceutical companies dominating the industry, doubt it will ever happen. They are much more interested to develop new and improved insulins that they can have a patent on.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

While it's not an exact duplicate of Lantus, if your vet is willing to give you a script and you can get the savings card to work, there's no reason you can't use it.

The problem is probably going to be with getting the savings card to work for you. Lantus also has a savings card, but they don't want us using it for our pets so a lot of the times, the savings cards don't work

It's dosed the same way as Lantus

 

[Amanda and a Loudogg]

Thanks everyone! I did a very brief bit of research after my appointment and the results seemed to be mixed (in humans obviously). I'm honestly scared witless to change from an "easy" in-and-out insulin to a depot insulin. Thankfully, my vet gave me a pretty generic prescription of "glargine insulin pen," so I can go with whatever I see fit. Does it matter that she specified pen? Is the pen or vial better for glargine?

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

It depends on how you look at the costs. The cost is less for a vial than a box of 5 pens. (Some places will sell individual pens vs selling a box) but a vial contains less insulin than 5 pens. There's also the slippery fingers issue. If you drop a vial and it breaks, all of your insulin is gone. The pens are encased in plastic so there's less chance of breakage -- and, you can't lose as much insulin as with a vial.

 

[Alison & Sarge]

Sarge made the switch from Lantus to the biosimilar Basaglar nearly a year ago. After the second day I had to remind myself it wasn't Lantus. ECID but for us it's the exact same sugar dance as Lantus and the pens are $25 less ($75 each vs $100). It travels as well as Lantus too. Just keep it cool until we reach our destination and then 40F in the fridge. No problems.