#11

He asked me to send him a copy of the seizure letter which I did. He has not responded since.

#12

PS: After a previous seizure he told me he would reship after Customs returned the shipment to him. I have no reason to believe that their policy is to return shipments to the sender. Regardless, he never reshipped.

#13

I agree that Customs would not be expected to return the shipment to him.

I just texted him and he seems eager to make things right. Maybe give him another chance to do the right thing.

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#14

Thank you! I just heard back and he has agreed to reship if I pay the shipping charge which I think is fair. Appreciate your assistance on this!

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#15

HOW WAS the item shipped regular mail or what

#17

It was shipped via EMS

#18

i think that is part of us postal system? i wonder if anyone has gotten things seized shipped by fed ex or ups . yea they are very expensive but if one has an otherwise very expensive order then maybe. I have done it by fed ex from china several times and only once was it questioned but was able to take care of it with no big problem and received the order only a little later than normal. The place from which I order knows to claim the contents as something very benign other than what it really is. Is the same place going to try and send to u again?

#19

Fedex and UPS require a prescription for the shipment of medications to the USA (and probably most other developed countries).

#20

they never have for me. they send me plenty of things and they use fed ex and prescription has nothing to do with anything. Any place should send it in discrete packaging and not divulge exactly what is in it. Certainly not say it is some medication even if it is.

#21

As a longevity Medicine physician, I have performed serum levels on a patient comparing compounded sirolimus from a US pharmacy vs generic enteric coated sirolimus at 24 hours post ingestion and found a 300% higher level with the enteric coated product. Since then I have switched all new prescriptions to the enteric coated product using GoodRx to shop for the best price (extremely variable) due to much better bioavailability. ( or you could triple the dose of the nonenteric coated product assuming equal quality of the compound which is another issue as well)

The above are comments on my professional experience on the subject and is not to be interpreted as medical advice per se.

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#22

Hi, and welcome to the forums. Thanks for posting.

Yes - we’ve heard of this issue with compounded sirolimus from many sources over the past few years:

Here: New Peter Attia interview w/Matt Kaeberlein, inferior bioavailability of encapsulated rapa

Here: Bioavailability of Rapamycin From Compounding Pharmacy

And there is an additional problem with Dan’s suggestion with the China-supplier of powder option; the Chinese suppliers are famously unreliable for quality of product, so you are likely to get something contaminated and/or not of high purity or quality. The HPLC testing by a good analytical lab costs far more (frequently between $500 to $1,000 and even then its hard to know what impurities to look for if you don’t know the details of the manufacturing process and inputs).

So yes, for 99.9% of the people who visit here, regular tablets from proven sources is the best option.

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#23

I just received a shipment from Anil in record time, though the customs for the West Coast may be different. I usually try for very small shipments and don’t order more than one thing at a time. The issue, I believe, is not drug quality, since many drugs sold in the US originate in India and China, but huge pressure from pharma companies to block low price competition. All you have to do is read up on how they prevent generic versions by various dubious legal manuevers to see this pressure at work.

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#24

I just sent 800 pills to my parents from India (Jagdish) by EMS and it made it through US customs and to my parents. I now have a 1200 pill delivery on it’s way. We shall see if that gets through!

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#25

My small order from Jagdish has been in NY customs since the start of the month.

#26

It’s still Early, things frequently take a number of weeks to work their way through customs.

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#27

My shipment of sirolimus from Medswala has been intercepted by customs. Customs keeps a database of senders and receivers of shipments that fail inspections.

1 Like
#28

Sorry to hear that, schotmanb. Yes, logically it makes perfect sense that such a database exists. That said I haven’t seen it factually confirmed, though speculated about on this forum in various threads. It would be interesting to hear from someone in the know, who could give a definitive answer. And if yes, then one would expect that once a shipment has been seized, that vendor lands in the database and whatever the next shipment is, it triggers a flag and gets inspected. But have we actually observed this, or is it the case that sometimes it goes through, and sometimes not? Because otherwise it’s a case of one-and-done, the vendor is burned, end of story. I seem to recall that some folks had the experience of both - shipments flying through and getting confiscated from the same vendor, which would make it a bit of a mystery as to how such a database is operating, unless there’s something I’m not understanding here. In any case it’s stressful - I myself am waiting on a couple of packages, and it’s been a little over three weeks… I’m not panicking yet, but sure would prefer if it weren’t such a drag.

1 Like
#29

Its worth working out what the strict legal position is in each country. The UK has a concept of a controlled drug (such as cannabis which is legal in some other jurisdictions). People are allowed to import drugs which are not controlled substances for their own personal use (which includes their family). They are, however, not allowed to sell them. (without a licence)

Customs, therefore, should not be seizing legal imports. I don’t know what the rules are for the US or Canada and I think some EU countries are more restrictive.

3 Likes
#30

I covered the US rules and practical application of those rules, in this post: Importing Rapamycin to Save Money (2)

#31

That’s interesting in that strictly it is banned, but the FDA have guidelines that don’t enforce the ban in some circumstances.