#1146

Hi

I have ordered from Varum for a number of years and the interaction with Pravin has been excellent but I now cannot get a response through any channel - I have messaged his phone direct and next week will phone him - I will keep you posted perhaps you would do the same - great shame hate the thought of developing a new Indian relationship

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#1147

I see, very helpful, thanks.

#1148

The below is uncontrolled meds, controlled meds are another story.

Ordering from another country is not likely ever to be prosecuted. :Technically, ordering from another country, and receiving pharmaceuticals even with a prescription is illegal, however the powers that be decided simply to not prosecute anyone with a prescription, ordering (I think) 90-day supply or less.

Possession of a pharmaceutical without a prescription likely is illegal, but who’d bother ever prosecuting? What judge would ever pay much attention to someone who imported silolimus or metformin without a script?

#1149

Just recently I’ve written to Anil and Jagdish, with no response. I hope that there has not been some sort of issue going on in India. That would not surprise me. I need to take Orgovyx and with medicare my “share” is $840 per month. In India, made by Cipla, its $140 per month.

Welcome to America where one must pay their “share,” of a med that can be bought for 1/8th the retail price in India (where, by the way, the “brand” med is made, anyway).

Edited: Jagdish did respond.

1- Xelucip Tablet, Relugolix (120mg) , Cipla Ltd = 109 USD For 30 tablets in 1 bottle.
2- Siromus 1mg Tablet ; Sirolimus (1mg) ; ZYDUS = 8 USD for 6 Tablets
3- Rapacan 1mg Tablet ; Sirolimus (1mg) ; Eris = 6.5 USD for 10 Tablets.
4- Glucobay 25 Tablet , Acarbose 25mg = 1.2 USD for 10 Tablets.
5- Glucobay 50 Tablet , Acarbose 50mg = 2.4 USD for 10 Tablets.

" The cost for Orgovyx 120 mg oral tablet is around $2,834 for a supply of 30 tablets , depending on the pharmacy you visit." (Relugolix = Orgovyx) What a f’ing racket America’s med supply is. My co-pay “share” = $840 for 30 tabs on Medicare.

How is it even possible that Medicare will charge me about 8x what they can buy it for from Jagdish?

And the poor guy (it’s a prostate cancer med) who has no insurance must pay 27x, that means that someone clearly is making at least $2,700 per 30-day prescription. Yikes

If necessary I’ll hop on a plane and go visit Jagdish, get 12-month supply of my Relugolix for $1308 and NOT buy it from my Medicare Advantage (real advantange-eh?) for $10,080. My savings will be $731 x 12, $8,772. A ticket is about $800. Crazy, do the math. Though if I were to do that, I’d want to have a legitimate prescription in pocket.

Question: Anyone familiar w/ the quality of Eris Sirolimus?

Anyone familiar w/ the quality of Glucobay (though that stuff is so common and cheap, I’ll bet that any manufacturer is ok.

8/17 updated since Anil responded, hoping this might be helpful to others:

Religolix 120 mg tablets - 1 strip of 10 tablets $ 26 USD (so $78/box of 30) (It seems so odd that they sell by the “stripe,”

Siroboon 1 mg tablets 100 tablets $ 40 USD
Siroboon 2 mg tablets 100 tablets $ 80 usd
Siroboon 3 mg 100 tablets $ 110 USD
Siroboon 5 mg 100 tablets $ 150 USD
Acarbose 25 mg ( Niddmose 25 ) 100 tablets $ 6 USD
Acarbose 50 ( Niddmose 50) 100 tablets $ 8 USD
Glucobay 25 mg 100 tablets $ 12 USD

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#1150

Acarbose is the generic name for Glucobay.
Glucobay is a Bayer AG product. This is the brand that I buy from India.

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#1151

Eris just recently purchased the Biocon Sirolimus brand. I don’t think it will have any effect on quality - we are well familiar with Biocon and we’ve had it tested, and it seems ok. Rapamycin / Sirolimus from India, Lab Test Report on Quality / Purity

See this thread: Eris LifeSciences Brand of Sirolimus from India

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#1152

Obviously, importing medication from India, is often the only realistic option for those of us in the US, both for budgetary and prescribing reasons.

However, quality is always a concern, and one aspect is the risk associated with uncontrolled conditions while being stored by middlemen, and then the transportation.

Unfortunately, this is not a trivial, but a very real problem:

With temperatures reaching 150 degrees and more for hours in the back of trucks, it’s no wonder that a lot of them lose potency by the time they arrive in your mailbox.

Clearly, there’s not much (nothing, lol) we can do about this, but I am curious about at least one of the aspects of this: the conditions that the drugs are kept in by the often times small time retail seller… it can get very hot and muggy in India! I was even wondering if it makes sense to buy only in winter rather than the height of summer…

Anyone have similar thoughts, or experiences?

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#1153

This is important. My approach is to buy from Cost Plus Drugs when possible (vs shipping via mail from India), and to buy better (hopefully) products but fewer (I only keep taking supplements I know are doing something via visible or measurable results) to manage cost.

Fullscript send certain supplements with cold packs, and offers faster shipping for less time in the truck/warehouse.

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#1154

So far another guy in India I buy from sends the goods in generic health product packing and I have not had any hold ups. He just sold Biocon to me … $4.75 USD for 10 pills. (I ordered 400 pills) I should be getting it next week.

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#1155

I read the label as Mfg Date 12/2023 and Expiry Date as 03/2026

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#1156

Can you share his email addess and if you are still happy with Jagdish at RLHealthcare. Thanks

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#1157

I’m still happy with Jagdish. My only problem with him is that he doesn’t sell Galantamine.

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#1158

Thanks. What are you taking Galantamine for?

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#1159

I am assisting a friend to purchase rapamycin for his experiment.

I have two following options for him for 200 tablets at 1mg, which is better? Anyone tried the US coupon option and what brand of rapamycin?

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#1160

I’d go with the doctor then if he can get the prescription.

Galantamine is an anti-sarcopenia strategy when combined with Metformin.

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#1161

Do you have references for this? I hadn’t seen this before.
The most common use is:
“Galantamine is primarily used to treat mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease by enhancing cognitive function through increased acetylcholine levels. It may also have neuroprotective effects and potential secondary benefits such as mood improvement and enhanced lucid dreaming. However, it can cause side effects, particularly gastrointestinal and cardiovascular issues, and should be used with caution in individuals with certain pre-existing conditions.”

Have you ever had any gastrointestinal effects from taking it/

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#1162

I would go with the doctor’s prescription. The medication provided in the USA is going to be fine (most of the rapamycin is Glenmark sirolimus I believe), and you have higher confidence that its going to have been stored at the correct temperature since manufacture and during storage in the USA.

While Zydus has been good from a quality standpoint (shown via lab analysis), you have no idea what the storage conditions have been since manufacture and its been very hot in India for many months in India this year.

And you get the benefit of working with a doctor who hopefully knows something about rapamycin and will work with you to analyze your lab work and track things.

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#1163

On the home page of the website here: A combinação de medicamentos da Rejuvenate Biomed (metformina e galantamina) mostra-se promissora na sarcopenia no ensaio de Fase 1b

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#1164

The "buy in winter does seem sensible, a good idea, thanks for that.

You state: “…it’s no wonder that a lot of them lose potency by the time they arrive in your mailbox.”

Have you any data of substance to point to any “loss of potency,” from any meds shipped from India? Perhaps you could please share that data.

A couple of years ago, there was a study done that I found interesting. It seems that about 40 years earlier than the study a pharmacy closed and its entire stock was warehoused. The warehouse temperature was controlled, so there were no excursions +/-. The study looked at hundreds of meds analyzing them and the reality was that almost all were still very potent.

Hot in India is valid, although “muggy” likely is not. It’s “only” America where our pharmacists count out tallies of pills and place them into non-airtight containers–the dark ages persist in America. I have not seen any imported meds that are not in blister packs or in bottles that are sealed.

I do like the “winter” idea though as I have gotten a recent shipment of “keto” candy bars (no sugar) that were partially melted, and that’s valid even from shipments within America.

I did get one shipment of meds from Optum that was left in my mailbox overnight and the temperature dropped to about zero f. I called the manufacturer and they advised to send them back, and I did.

So maybe September > Nov and March>May would be good.

If I buy my Relugolix I can do a “quality check.” After two weeks my testosterone level should be below 50 nanograms/ml. That might be a quick and dirty "did the heat in India hurt that med test. In other words do that brand/batch of meds do what is expected.

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#1165

@Justin - I don’t have any specific studies showing loss of potency of medications shipped from India. I am basing my concern on the realities of transportation conditions in general. As the article states, unless there is a specific chain of transport dedicated to temperature control, such as refrigerated trucks, you are dealing with the vagaries of extreme temperature variation (btw. airplane cargo spaces can sometimes have surprisingly cold temperatures at higher altitudes) - the example given was the 150 degrees in the back of a truck. It doesn’t matter if the package is shipped from India or Timbuktu, it will at some point be transported by truck whether in the country of origin, transfer or destination, such as the USA - if the plane lands at a distribution hub in say, Arizona, or Nevada, and the temperature is 100+ degrees outside, and 150 in the back of the truck, after hours of transport time your meds might be in rough shape no matter where they originally came from, India or a pharmacy in Antarctica :cry:.

And we do know that meds are affected by temps, obviously some more than others, but even common over the counter drugs like aspirin can break down chemically:

Heat, medications don't mix.

Obviously, every med is different in this respect, so you must have info about every specific drug. For example, I’ve read on this board that some people prefer to store their rapamycin in temperature controlled environments, like a refrigerator. Personally I don’t know how exactly rapamycin is affected by temperature over time - maybe for longer storage a fridge makes sense. But the risk is in not knowing how much exactly a given med loses in potency - here a binary test present/not present might not tell you much. If I buy empagliflozil from India, and then test my urine for the presence of glucose, what does that tell me? If it’s not present, OK, potency zero. But if it is present how do I know that it’s less potent? Maybe it’s my body less affected by empag - I have no way of knowing from a test strip. Only a lab that tests my sample of the empag medication itself, that I got from India, can tell me if it’s fully potent. And how practical is it for me to test every batch of every med I get from India? Btw., I’m not picking on India - the same concerns apply to any meds that are handled by ordinary, non-temperature controlled transportation chain (as the article says). When you go to a pharmacy and pick up a med, you’re hoping that their transportation and storage is designed for purpose. When you are sent a package by mail, you have no idea. YMMV.

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