Companies offering PZI

This evening I stumbled upon two online stores offering compounded PZI u40 Insulin.

One is : http://www.nationalpetpharmacy.com/prod ... medium=cse
The other is: http://www.petfooddirect.com/product/RX ... medium=cse

Anyone know anything about it? Is it safe? I'd rather not change insulins.

 

I know nothing about the specific formulations being produced by whoever's supplying PFD/Nat'lPetPharm (from their website designs and photo re-use, they're two 'branches' of the same company).

Compounded medications, including insulin, can be made at specialised pharmacies called compounding pharmacies. You may well be able to find one or more in your area by checking your local phone book. If you decided to get insulin made locally, you would save on shipping. Prices will vary, so the local version may be less expensive than what you find offered online; I know that the one time we needed to use a compounded insulin (we'd brought the almost-empty bottle of Idexx with us instead of the full one), the local compounding pharmacy charged us ~$35 to make up a vial.

Compounded medications are only supposed to be made under the supervision of a licensed pharmacist; as with anything done under human control, the precise 'safety' will depend on how well the pharmacist follows the directions for making the product, and how well the pharmacy itself follows the controls set in place to maintain safety and effecacy. (I will say that compounding pharmacists tend to be among the most meticulous folks I know, but that still doesn't prevent errors from being made.)

The precise ingredients of a compounded medication will often change from pharmacy to pharmacy, as different ingredients (and amounts of ingredients) will be used to create the desired effect; as an example, both talc and confectioner's sugar are used to provide a bulk ingredient in various compositions of levothyroxine.

A lot of old Idexx folks have switched to other compounded PZIs and haven't had problems; other folks have found it more difficult to keep their cat regulated on compounded insulin. And there was one person who had their cat on two or three insulins compounded by different pharmacies; their cat had an allergic reaction to the insulin produced by one pharmacy but not the other.

My vet feels that, because each batch is made separately, the strength of the insulin tends to vary too much from batch to batch; this might explain why some folks found it harder to regulate their cats on compounded PZI. While some pharmacies do better at producing a less variable version than others, the fact is that every employee has a slightly different approach to making a medication, so variations will always occur. It's up to the pharmacy management to ensure that the differences are within strict limits and that quality control procedures are followed.

Another thing to be aware of is that, because compounded insulins are made in less rigorous conditions than manufactured insulins, they tend to have a shorter shelf life; 6 months seems to be standard for the compounded insulins that I've seen.

-- Jean and her Gwyn