Trouble with Vetsulin and transitioning to new insulin

Well, our old vet has been giving us a very hard time about returning the Vetsulin. As I said in a previous post, our vet did not inform us at all about the Vetsulin warning/recall (even though we've been in there several times during the past few months to get Buddy's BG tested and for check-ups). We didn't find out about the warning until last month and we came upon it accidentally while looking for lower prices on Vetsulin. They sold us a vial of it early last month, right before we found out about the warning. They said nothing to us.

We printed out the FDA warning and other notices from Vetsulin's website that people on here linked us to and showed it to them yesterday. The staff told us they'd give the notices to the vet and that she'd call us back. They acted like it was no big deal that they were still selling it.

Today, we received a call back from one of the staff telling us that Vetsulin is perfectly safe and that ALL insulin is unstable. She said the vet told her that none of her other patients have had any problems and that the whole Vetsulin warning/recall is being blown way out of proportion. They are still continuing to sell it and won't give us a refund, even a partial one. I don't understand this because the company that makes it sent out notices to vets telling them to not use it anymore and to transition pets to other insulin as soon as possible. I thought they were trying to get it out of circulation, but our old vet is still somehow selling it.

I don't know what to do at this point. I almost feel like suing them or reporting them somehow (but to who?). Our cat has been steadily getting worse since late November and his BG level is all over the place. We would really like to get our money back, but our old vet is determined not to let that happen. Needless to say, we will NEVER give that vet our business again. We even called around to other vets in town and none of them are carrying Vetsulin anymore.

We are currently trying to figure out which insulin would be best to transition him to. It seems our choices are PZI, Lantus, and Levemir.

I keep hearing great things about Lantus, which is what I am leaning toward. However, our new vet (a cat clinic in town) uses PZI. I thought I read somewhere online that this was being discontinued. Is this true? I’m a little confused since people are still using it. There seems to be conflicting information on it.

I did some price checking, too. PZI will cost $120 for a 10ml vial at our vet. At Costco, we can get a 10ml vial of Lantus for $95. Many on here recommended the 5 pack of 3ml cartridges, which costs $186. That seems like a lot of money to spend at once. Just to double-check, the 5 pack of 3ml cartridges will last much longer than the vial (for about 6 months), correct? If that is the case, I will definitely be considering that.

What is the shelf life on the PZI and Lantus 10ml vials, just for reference?

Also, has anyone had to transition their cat from Vetsulin to another insulin? Anyone have any suggestions about how to go about the process and make it as painless as possible for Buddy?

Thank you for your help.

 

Hi, went through the same thing in January. The FDA warninng was out then but not the recall, so I didn't have many options other than immediately switching vets. We went on Lantus. Tess is now nearly ready to go off............... I can't say it don't want to jinx it.

The official shelf life of a vial once opened is 28 days, that's why the 5 cartridges are a better deal. In reality many of us use them longer, but you still have 5 time the useful life w/ the cartridges. So less thrown away. There is Levemir also, very similar to Lantus. I don't know the exact differences, but after we got our Lantus at Costco, we found a notice in the package that Levemir is on their preferred formulary and would be quite a bit cheaper. You should call and get a price for that also.

Post over in the Lantus forum, the people are great and willing to share their knowledge, which is a lot. They will be able to help w/ the differences in the 2. I don't know much about PZI, but.....

This is from the protocol sheet for using Lantus.

I'll look for you in Lantus Land.

 

A very very very few people have used up an entire vial of Lantus. Most people get a couple of months fro a Lantus vial and that is why the five pack of 3 ml cartridges/disposable pens is less expensive overall.

PZI Vet has been discontinued. Its replacement is called ProZinc. You might be able to get ProZinc cheaper online but the overnight shipping may eat up any savings. Regarding how long a vial is good for, I have no experience with ProZinc. HOwever, I did use PZI Vet in the pas and always used up the entire vial and that took over a year.

I have no info on the life of Levemir.

 

and there's always BCP PZI insulin. http://www.bcpvetpharm.com/news_bovineinsulin.html
I used it for quite a few years without any problems. You can go to the Insulin Support Groups for each insulin and check around what's happening and how they feel about them.

I'm surprised the vet would risk losing your business and bad word of mouth references to his clinic versus refunding your money.

 

If you're thinking about Lantus and price is a concern, I just saw a link on latnus forum for $25 off the pens - http://www.lantus.com/emails/couponpage ... id=LNWB744

Since the vet is refusing to refund the vestulin - may I recommend contact the vestulin manufacturer and informing them of the vet's refusal to refund, tell them the vet continues to sell the product and not inform patients of the recall and ask them to refund you instead.

I would think the manufacturer would want to know all this, if for no other reason than to avoid a potential lawsuit. They can also put pressure on the vet the either refund you directly or for them to refund you. Either way, you are entitled to your money back.

As far as which insulin to choose, you need to decide. I suggest you go to each of the forums and read the starred information, along with some of the daily posts. See how people are faring with each insulin and then decide.

As you can see by my signature, we used Lantus and Maui is OTJ as a result.

 

I am responding as a representative of Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health. I have been asked to post this reply because this posting was sent to us. Please contact our Technical Services Department at 1-800-224-5318 and we will try to assist you as much as possible with this matter. Thanks.

 

Thank you everyone for your help and advice. And thank you to whomever sent this post to Schering-Plough. I am going to call them as soon as possible about this matter. Our old vet is being very unresponsive about this, so I don't think arguing with them any further about the Vetsulin issue is going to get us anywhere.

Thank you Hillary for posting that Lantus coupon. : ) That would be a great help to us. I am thinking more and more that Lantus is the way to go for Buddy. I will check on the Levemir prices at Costco as well, just to see if that is less expensive. Even if it is, I am leaning very heavily toward Lantus right now.

I'm guessing I just need to ask my new vet for a prescription for Lantus even though they sell PZI?

This whole Vetsulin issue has been incredibly frustrating for us and we just want to get Buddy started on something else as soon as possible.

Thank you again.

 

Yes, you just need the script for Lantus and the vet should write it no problem - if you get the pens - make sure the vet write solostar pens on the script (or calls it in that way) so you do get the correct form of lantus.

And hooray to whomever notified Schering Plough. See I told you they would take this matter seriously! Cool!!!