Lantus shelf life?

The vet just switched us from Vetsulin to Lantus and there is a
warning on th Lantus box that once it's opened it's only good for 28
days. If that's so, that's gong to be damned expensive medicine. Ten
cc (1,000 units) cost $90 and the cat only gets 60 units per month. So
I'm supposed to discard 940 units, or is the short shelf life
exaggerated?

"cindys" wrote:


"Richard Evans" wrote in message
.. .
The vet just switched us from Vetsulin to Lantus and there is a
warning on th Lantus box that once it's opened it's only good for 28
days. If that's so, that's gong to be damned expensive medicine. Ten
cc (1,000 units) cost $90 and the cat only gets 60 units per month. So
I'm supposed to discard 940 units, or is the short shelf life
exaggerated?
----------
Richard, I'm really confused. When Alex was on Lantus last year, the
expiration date was nearly a year away.

That's the unopened and refrigerated life. The data sheet that comes
with it specifically says 28 days after opening.

I have a call in to my vet to clarify.


Best regards (and happily assuming that this means Ripley is coming home or
is already home :-)


He's home, but very tired. We are feeding him liquids with a syringe
and he mostly just sleeps. (How, you might ask, is that different from
normal?)

I did find out that the vet will check his glucose on a walk-in basis
for $20. Had I known that, I would've been taking him there on a
regular basis instead of trying unsuccessfuly to do it at home.

"cindys" wrote:

That's the unopened and refrigerated life. The data sheet that comes
with it specifically says 28 days after opening.

Oh...so, that's why the doctor was questioning the potency, and obviously I
didn't read the label carefully.

Don't feel bad. It's in very small type and you would've had to hunt
for it. Were it not for a handwritten warning on the box, I never
would have.



I have a call in to my vet to clarify.

Well, what you're saying makes sense. Fortunately or unfortunately, the
Lantus insulin is packaged in a size sufficiently large that the humans who
take it won't need to go to the pharmacy on a weekly basis. Of course, that
doesn't help cat owners who only require a very small amount :-(

I found out the injector pen takes 300-unit cartridges, but based on
my experience with my own insulin, the pen cartridges are far more
expensive than the vials. Indeed, a quick Google search turned up pen
cartridges for $126, compared to the $90 I paid for the 1,000-unit
vial.



There is a cat pharmacy in Texas that produced (according to my
veterinarian's specs aluminum hydroxide capsules, size#4, specifically for
Alex). You may be able to get Lantus insulin in smaller doses from them. Of
course, it still won't be cheap, but it may be less than $90. If you want, I
can e-mail you the name of the pharmacy and the phone number.

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind.


I did find out that the vet will check his glucose on a walk-in basis
for $20. Had I known that, I would've been taking him there on a
regular basis instead of trying unsuccessfuly to do it at home.

That still sounds so expensive when you can do it at home for the cost of a
test strip (around $1). May I ask how you are trying to do it?

We were never able to detect the vein, but it turns out we were
looking in the wrong place. And, of course, he wasn't very
cooperative. We are going to give it another try.

According to the Wal-Mart pharmacy, a 1,000-unit vial is $88, which is
right about what I paid. Pen cartridges are five 100-unit cartridges
(total of 500 units, half the amount in the larger vial) for $210.

No economy there