Lantus and Levemir cost?

Can someone tell me the approx cost of Lantus and Levemir insulin at Walmart?

 

It probably varies with the Walmart locations, geographically, so you should call your local Walmart and inquire. If you're looking at lantus, price the pens rather than the vials. Vials can use their strength after 30 days and you may be left with a lot of wasted insulin. The pens are a bit more expensive up front, but you won't have to buy insulin, monthly, if you use those. If you go to insulin support groups and read the stickies, there is info on both of those insulins.

 

In Dallas, about 1 yr ago, Lantus was $236.84 for 5 3-ml cartridges; Levemir was $207.58 for 5 3-ml cartridges at both Sam's Club & Walmart. Costco was $176.38/Lantus & $175.77 Levemir.

Cheapest way to get insulin is by sending your prescription to Canada. Globaldrugsdirect.com was $149/Lantus and $135/Levemir.

 

a 5-pack of Levemir cartridges cost ~$118 Canadian dollars at Walmart in March 2010. At the time, the exchange rate to US dollars was pretty much equal.

So -- if you are close enough for a road trip - it would be well worth it. (I live 35 miles from Ontario)

Get your girlfriends together for a road trip to Danny's in Windsor and pick up some Lev or Lantus while in Windsor. (a strip club of hunky men for women) (stay overnight)
http://detroit.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/ ... ndsor.com/

Well, ok -- if you spend the weekend partying down, maybe the road trip would cost more than the savings on the insulin :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

Hi there, we just bought Lantus at Costco for $190.00, that was the cheapest we found it. If you sign up your kitty at the pharmacy (no, it's not for a costco card but a discount pharmacy card) that keeps the price lower.
My Vet told me also about a place in Canada called Canadadrugs.com that had Lantus for something like $118, but we were frightened about shipping it and not sure if it would be the real thing. Oh, the Costco price is for 5 - 3ml vials, so 15 ml, you can also get the larger pen but it would probably go bad before you used it all up.
Best wishes.

 

That is pretty expensive compared to the $24 I pay for the Humulin N.

I cannot really afford that right now because I am not working.

 

$24 is really cheap, how long does that last? The 5 pens of Lantus will last you at least 5 months, Lev most likely much longer since it appears to not be as fragile as Lantus for some reason.

The way I looked at is is Lantus has amazing remission rates (some studies say up to 85% of newly diagnosed). So higher cost with good possibility of getting off of it vs cheaper for insulin that isn't as good at helping the kitty heal and be paying forever. Our vet won't start cats on anything but Lantus because of the higher remission rates. We went OTJ within 4 months of diagnosis. Remission is not going to happen for all kitties, but the Ls seem to give them a leg up for newly diagnosed kitties.

 

$24 was at Walmart. Walmart said they have a special deal with the mfg or something.
It is a 10ml bottle.
I do not know how long that amount will last. It looks like maybe 1 month with the amounts I am giving her.

 

If you're in the US, you can use a free prescription drug card to save money on insulin and other meds that you purchase at the Human pharmacy for your cat to use (Flovent, etc): http://www.felinediabetes.com/phorum5/r ... 84,1946184

A 10 ml bottle contains 1000 units of insulin. Few diabetic cats can use that much insulin in a month. The bottle lasts a month, maybe a little more. You never know when the insulin has gone bad until you see floaties in the bottle or you see higher than usual bg numbers. It's a waste of money to throw away a barely used bottle every month or so and spend another $100+ for a bottle.

Are you sure the $24 price quote from Walmart is correct? 10 ml bottles cost at least $100 in most places and that's with no health insurance to cover the cost.

Edit: Missed the post saying that the $24 is for Humulin N.

 

she's using Humulin right now so the $24 is for humulin, which sounds about right.

 

Humulin N does not go bad unless it freezes or gets hot or is dropped too much.

We were able to use Humulin N to the last drop with careful handling. (used N for ~18 months back in 2006-2007)

 

My recent Lantus vial was $102 at Walmart. I ordered cartridges from a Canadian pharmacy and have them ready to start when Shadow's numbers start creeping up. I got the cartridges for $129 including shipping. It will be the first time I have used them.

 

A 10 ml vial of a human insulin contains 1,000 units not 100. 10 ml times 100 units per ml (U100)

The poster is talking about N insulin, an older insulin not one of the newer insulin analogs like Lantus and Levemir which are a lot more expensive.

N insulin should last a long time. I bought a vial of N for my Twigie about 1 1/2 years ago and I am still using it.

To use a 1,000 unit vial in one month would require a dose of 16 units bid.