Lantus to Levemir

Because of the extreme cost of Lantus I was contemplating switching my two controlled guys to Levemir.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

I have read that Levemir is more potent than Lantus and you should start at about 70% of the Lantus dose.
I did that when I changed.

Just wondering where you are getting the Levemir at less cost than Lantus. Typically Levemir is a little more expensive than Lantus

 

Levemir is normally more expensive than Lantus. Although I just restocked for the winter by way of a Canadian Pharmacy for $140.00 with shipping for a 5 pack of Levemir cartridges. Now I did have someone pick it up for me and ship it personally to me so if you use an online pharmacy the cost maybe different. But a word of caution while both Lantus and Levemir are depot insulins they work differently so aren't exactly interchangeable, your doses will be different as well as when onset occurs and when they hit nadir. Typically I've found with my Lev cats they have a more bell shaped curve where they go up in the middle and slide down by next preshot, with their lowest being between +9-+12, unlike the Lantus curve where nadir is about in the middle of the cycle around +6.

Mel and The Fur Gang

 

For either, if you are in the US, checking Canadian pharmacies may cut your costs.

Check this thread about some of the pharmacies used.

 

Levemir has a discount that makes it out to $25 per pen, per month. Unlike the Lantus discount, this has not (yet) been restricted from use on pets.

 

We recommend that people start with Levemir at 70% of their Lantus dose, not because of potency, but some cats need less Levemir. Some need the same and some need more. It's safest to start with less. and you can increase as needed.

FWIW - Levemir costs about $30 more than Lantus in my province, about $130 for 5 cartridges.

 

Then teh 70% reduction is due to the potency of the insulin. What other reason would there be?

 

It's more potent for some cats, but not all. ECID. I've seen some cats get low numbers right away going to Levemir and some that need increases right away.

 

Levemir also carries over longer. With more overlap, the numbers can end up very low, even at pre-shot. Taking your time adjusting the dose is a safe way to go.

 

All insulin can act differently in each cat so when switching, you are going to want to test more often, watch a little closer, until you see how your guys react and how much Lev they will need.

Lev was cheaper than Lantus back when we switched Smokey to it. Today, it is much more expensive here that Lantus. Prescription drug costs vary from area to area so hopefully any decision to change based on cost is done based on what you've found where you will buy and not just what is mentioned on the board. We switched Smokey based somewhat on cost, but she was a high dose kitty, using a vial in less than a month, so we were also looking to see if the new insulin would help her more. I don't know if I'd mess with regulation if I had kitties doing very well on low doses and I wasn't looking for improvement out of the change. You always have the risk loss of regulation when changing things.

 

Kay - that website for Levemir does not work. It will not take new passwords.