Iletin 2 Porcine (Pork) Insulin is Still
Available:
03/15/2004 06:40 PM
Iletin II - Monocomponent Pork Insulin (Porcine insulin) is still available in R, N, and L but not UL, SL or PZI, according to Eli Lilly. We are hearing prices ranging from $40 to $65 per 10cc Vial (1,000 IU). We are also hearing that many pharmacies are telling diabetics that pork insulin is no longer available here in the United States. This is UNTRUE.
If your pharmacy is not stocking pork insulin, you can get it delivered from Eli Lilly or their distributor for your area. Contact Lilly at 1-800-821-0538 for information.
Beef, Pork and synthetic Human Insulins are NOT prescription drugs in the United States, only the so-called "analogues" require prescriptions, though your insurance company may require a prescription to reimburse you for insulin. They may also object to Lilly's outrageous monopoly pricing. Because Lilly is exercising its monopoly pricing, the Food and Drug Administration refuses to honor bona fides USDA Import Permits so it is illegal to import pork insulin to the US. Because of its contracts with middlemen, Lilly may be unable to deliver insulin directly to you and may require that it be delivered to your pharmacy or to your doctor. If you are able to get them to deliver to you, please notify me by Email.
We would greatly appreciate learning the difficulties you have in obtaining pork insulin as well as the price you are charged and the expiration dates of the vials you receive as well as the type of insulin (R, N, or L) you ordered.
We caution you that:
For those of you changing from human ( Humulin or Novolin ) or other synthetics ( Lantus, Humalog or NovoRapid - Novolog ) to pork, this should NOT be a major problem, however, I can state, from personal experience that pork is much faster and less reliable for me than beef and scarcely better than "human insulin."
I would strongly urge you to sign our Petition to have Congress pass enabling legislation to allow the importation of Beef insulin from the UK and I will personally assure you that we will raise the issue of Lilly's outrageous monopolistic pricing on Pork Insulin for the US and endeavor to expand our mandate to allow importation of Pork Insulins since even with the USDA Permit fees and shipping charges, it would cost much less than Lilly's retailers are charging. Click here to sign our Petition.
Note that whether due to acidity or IGF-1 receptor binging there are potential cancer issues with Humalog, NovoRapid and Lantus.
If you are having problems finding pork in Canada or elsewhere, please contact IDDT International or the Swiss Insulin Foundation and call the CP Pharmaceutical Insulin hotline at #011-800-667-55-555. You may wish to visit their website at CP Pharmaceuticals.
Thank you. Please feel free to Email me if you have any questions.