3/11 China AMPS 101,+4 67,+7 99, PMPS 88,+2.5 72,+5 72,+7 79 (trying Basaglar?)

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Chris & China (GA)

Chris & China (GA)

Member Since 2013
Yesterday's condo

Miss China's being her good little self and paddling around in the lagoon, keeping her eyes on all the kitties!!

Need some opinions/advice though!

As many of you know, I've been working with DCIN lately.....they have someone who gets lots of Basaglar insulin as free samples and has been donating it to DCIN.....but since nobody has used it, they're just sitting there. I'm considering whether to use China as a "test subject"

Basaglar is supposed to be a "biosimilar" of Lantus and (in humans) is dosed the exact same way.

Although I'm absolutely nervous about changing anything in a cat as tightly regulated as China is, the fact that she is so tightly regulated seems to me to make her the perfect test case. If the Basaglar is going to work differently in cats than humans, it seems that we'd know right away, one way or the other.

I know how China reacts to Lantus so well, and I'm usually here to be able to test her as much as necessary to keep her safe, so I'm thinking that she may be the best cat for this testing.....but I need your help with making a final decision.

It just seems that if we tried it on a cat that wasn't as tight as China is, we wouldn't be sure if it was the insulin, the cat or the weather that was making the difference.

So, what do you think?
 
Did you see this thread?

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...vailable-later-this-year.156493/#post-1913536

Specifically this post?

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...vailable-later-this-year.156493/#post-1913158

Alison & Sarge said:
For those of you curious about Basaglar, it finally made it to market in January now that the patent lawsuit between Lilly and Sanofi is settled. I have a friend who was just switched from Lantus to Basaglar by her insurance company and she has noticed no difference between the two. The dosage is the same and even the protein sequence is the same. I am in the process of trying it with Sarge with his vet's blessing. She is awesome :) ECID but so far I have noticed no difference between it and Lantus. I find myself working the tight protocol just the same as I did with Lantus and after the first couple days I about forgot I wasn't using Lantus. I'm still testing but I just wanted to put the word out there that Basaglar maybe another option. Especially as insurance companies and even CVS are dropping Lantus now that a less expensive insulin glargine has made it to market.
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Question-- is Basaglar currently widely available and (I certainly hope!) cheaper than Lantus in the US? Just wondering, for recipients of the samples, how easy/difficult it would be to re-supply if the DCIN connection were to somehow dry up. [edit: OK, the previous quoted thread may have answered this question already!]

When China has had occasional "hiccups" in regulation (gets into dry food, vet visits, etc.) in the past, she's been pretty easy to get back on track, right? If so, I think I might risk it if you feel like you need more data on B's suitability for cats. I do agree that Miss China could make a very informative test case, if you're willing to do a trial with her...
 
Nan & Amber said:
When China has had occasional "hiccups" in regulation (gets into dry food, vet visits, etc.) in the past, she's been pretty easy to get back on track, right?
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Yes, so far anyway....or maybe I should say "lately she gets back on track quickly".....for the first couple of years, she was pretty unpredictable but now she just seems like a good candidate to see if the dosage really will work out to the same as Lantus

Still makes me really nervous to change anything!! :nailbiting::nailbiting::nailbiting::nailbiting::nailbiting:
 
Chris & China said:
Still makes me really nervous to change anything!! :nailbiting::nailbiting::nailbiting::nailbiting::nailbiting:
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I'd be pretty nervous, too-- China's numbers are amazing! It's very generous of you to even consider taking the risk.

Given the previous thread's discussion of how there may be a shift underway anyway with insurance companies/CVS, I wonder if we're going to start seeing cats prescribed B. "naturally"? Though it's more likely that there will be a big lag on the veterinary side of things, given how these things usually go.
 
Ideally, Basaglar is a good generic for Lantus so there shouldn't be any difference. However, like with all generics, it can be an ECID/EHID is different due to the reaction to any of the nonactive ingredients. I can't tell from the literature if this is truly "biosimilar" or in the places where they note that Basaglar is not biosimilar if it's for regulatory reasons.

The one thing I'd keep in mind is that there are no head-to-head clinical trials comparing Lantus with Basaglar. It there were, it would be reassuring but I suspect this rarely happens. From Lilly's press release, it doesn't seem like there will be a big savings on price (15 - 20%) which would be negligible if people are purchasing Lantus from Marks.

Thanks for being our guinea pig!!!

 
Personally, I wouldn't risk disturbing China's perfect regulation on Lantus just to try something new. When it comes to something as important as blood sugar, I think "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is a good saying to live by.
 
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AZJenks said:
Personally, I wouldn't risk disturbing China's perfect regulation on Lantus just to try something new. When it comes to something as important as blood sugar, I think "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is a good saying to live by.
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Oh trust me, I'm really nervous about even considering it, but at some point, someone is going to have to try it. If China's numbers change even a little (in a negative way), I'll be the first one to pull the plug and run as fast as my little feet can take me back to Lantus (IF I decide to try it)

Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
From Lilly's press release, it doesn't seem like there will be a big savings on price (15 - 20%) which would be negligible if people are purchasing Lantus from Marks.
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True, but the bigger news is that lots of insurance companies are dropping Lantus from their "approved" list in favor of Basaglar.....not such a problem for our kitties since they don't have insurance anyway, but might impact the availability of "donated" insulin that DCIN uses
 
AZJenks said:
Personally, I wouldn't risk disturbing China's perfect regulation on Lantus just to try something new. When it comes to something as important as blood sugar, I think "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is a good saying to live by.
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I'm kind of in the same boat as AZJenks. If China were mine, I wouldn't disturb her perfect regulation that took so long to achieve to test something out. I'm a bit of a hypochondriac though and tend to be a bit more conservative in general.

If it wasn't for people doing trials and willing to take risks, then we wouldn't have such amazing medicines available, so I do understand the importance of using test subjects. As you mentioned Chris, you could always go running back to Lantus right away if anything seems off.

Sorry, that was a wishy washy response- I know your heart will help you make the best decision for China and others who may benefit from her experience. Good luck!

I think it's so awesome that you're working for DCIN! Thank you for giving back!
 
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