Our first Follistim + IUI cycle is coming up in just 4 months, and while that may look like a long ways away on paper, it’s really not that far off. On Monday, I had my consult with my doctor to discuss what my first Follistim cycle will look like. We still have a few things to figure out, like whether I’ll need to go on birth control temporarily to reset my body (shoot me now), or whether we’ll just skip it and see what my body does on its own leading up to that cycle. I’d rather leave it be, but I also know it’s common practice to do a couple of months of birth control to prep the body to be more receptive to treatment.
Again, shoot me now. If any of you remember how I bled for a few months the last time I was on birth control, you know how I despise it. But, I digress… moving on… stepping off the soap box… kicking and screaming just a bit.
Planning for a Follistim cycle means I’m also digging around the internet for the cheapest prices on the meds. My insurance will not cover a single penny of infertility treatment, so we’re on our own. There are a few discount programs out there, but their version of “discount” isn’t always good enough for the headache of paperwork you’re expected to fill out. Can I get an Amen?! Why is this all so expensive?
One positive is I may not need to buy a Follistim pen – I think my doctor might have one on hand that was donated, unopened, along with 300 IU, and she’s saving it all for me. That should get me 4 doses to get started (75 IU per shot).
I wanted to share with you all some of the prices I found online and locally for Follistim, and I hope to get your thoughts on purchasing as well!
GoodRx
This is a free app I downloaded on my iPhone to help my mom get better discounts on her meds since she doesn’t have any insurance at all. All you have to do is search for the med you need, and it will pull up all the local pharmacies in your area with the discount price list. It gives you a special code the pharmacist will enter in the system, and so far we have found it’s pretty close to accurate. It helped my mom get a medication that would have cost her $108 for just $21. The app said it should cost about $16, so we were thrilled it was that close. That said, these prices are probably close to what they would be locally:
- 300 IU: $548.85
- 600 IU: $1,101
- 900 IU: $1,630
No shipping required, and I have no idea if I’d have to special order the pen as the app does not price it for me. My guess is yes.
FreedomFertility.com
Not a great discount – in fact, almost looks like one of the most expensive places to get Follistim, and yet it’s one of the most common places recommended to me in infertility support groups.
- 300 IU: $369.60
- 600IU: $1,279.20
- 900 IU: $1,918.80
I couldn’t find the price for the Follistim pen, unless it’s included in the original price, but I’m pretty sure that most of the time the pen is not included. Shipping is free.
IVFmeds.com
The 2nd cheapest place to get Follistim that I have found, but is lacking pertinent information on their website and they don’t make it easy to find the info you need. They primarily ship from Europe.
- 300 IU: $175
- 600 IU: $350
- 900 IU: $525
Follistim pen is not included, and could not find a price on it. Shipping is $69 for standard, $99 for rush to the U.S. (FYI: apparently Europe has a cap on what pharmaceutical companies can charge on medications, hence the drastic price difference). For those who don’t know, standard international shipping can run 4 weeks to arrive… just sayin’. So if you choose this company, you’ll need to pay for rush shipping.
IVFpharmacy.com
Pretty much the cheapest place to get Follistim that I have found, and it’s also the most convenient because I didn’t have to dig very deep for pricing or information. [Note: When I first wrote this post, the meds were slightly more expensive than IVFmeds.com, but adding shipping in, it ended up cheaper, or the same depending on the dosage. As of 10/21/15, they are cheaper! Updated pricing reflected below!] They have a better shipping rate and better delivery promise.
- 300 IU: $160
- 600 IU: $320
- 900 IU: $490
- Pen: $15
Shipping is a flat $25 from Europe to the U.S. in 5-7 days, no matter how many medications you order. Seems fair enough, especially for those of you getting ready to go through IVF. I am very familiar with how shipping works, and I know that the $25 flat rate for 5-7 days international means this company has a killer deal negotiated with their shipping agent and they’re not marking it up. IVFmeds.com is definitely marking theirs up – where they lose money on the cost of the meds, they gain on marking up shipping. Just sayin’.
**UPDATE: I placed my order with IVFpharmacy.com on 10/9/15 and it arrived to my post office on 10/16/15! Shipping was quick and they were quick to respond via email!**
Other
There are other options out there for purchasing meds here in the U.S., like through WINfertility.com (the fertility specific pharmacy partnered with Walgreens), but I am struggling to find anything nearly as cheap as some of these websites out of Europe. Locally, I’m going to end up paying double or three times more than I could if I ordered through IVFpharmacy.com.
If you know of a better pharmacy option, or have experience with any of these (good or bad), pleeeease share your experience in the comments! I have about 3 months before I need to settle on where I am going to purchase the meds and start moving forward.
Hello!
Thanks for the research! Very helpful and I’m planning to bookmark this page for future use! Med prices are unbelievable, aren’t they? We were fortunate to have a year of coverage but now were on our own. Gulp!
I have an extra unused Follistim pen leftover from my last IVF cycle. I’d be happy to send it to you. Let me know! Although depending on your supplier they may just give one to you when you order the meds.
YES meds are awful in pricing – my goodness. Do you know if you have to have a new pen for every 300 IU vial? Or do you refill it? That is something I have no idea on…
You shouldn’t need to replace the pen each time. It’ll last for awhile. Inside the pen is a vial of medicine. Once the vial runs out you unscrew the pen and replace the vial with another one. Each order of Follistim comes with a vial and 6 -8 needles. The good news is – the vials are usually overfilled! My nurse told me that and I didn’t believe her. (Why would they do that?) But it was true in my case. It usually isn’t a lot but maybe an extra 50-75. It was a nice little bonus 🙂
That is so awesome! Thanks for all of the info!
Kate said “You shouldn’t need to replace the pen each time. It’ll last for awhile. Inside the pen is a vial of medicine. Once the vial runs out you unscrew the pen and replace the vial with another one. Each order of Follistim comes with a vial and 6 -8 needles. The good news is – the vials are usually overfilled! My nurse told me that and I didn’t believe her. (Why would they do that?) But it was true in my case. It usually isn’t a lot but maybe an extra 50-75. It was a nice little bonus”
if i order from IVFpharmacy.com is all the needles included? does each order of follistim comes with the pen? just pen or pen/needles?
My wife doctor prescribed
Ganirelix 250mcg (6)
Follistim 300iu (5)
HCG 10,000iu (1)
Menopur 75iu (36)
and bunch of different size needles.
25 gauge 1.5in needle to inject HCG 10,000iu quantity 2
27 gauge 0.5in needle to inject menopur quantity 16
3ml syringe with 22 gauge 1.5in needle to reconstitute menopur quantity 16
thank you so much!
Follistim comes with needles in the box every time but no pen, that has to be ordered separately. As for the other needles, I honestly don’t know. When you send your script in, you can email with them and see if they have what you need but I don’t think they sell separate needles due to the liability when it comes to shipping overseas. You may have to go to your local pharmacy for those. When I have ordered, I only ordered Follistim vials and already had a pen at home and the needles, so I never ordered that stuff through that site. The only time I get new pens was when I went through Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy if I needed quick delivery, and they also send a sharps container, which is convenient. I hope that helps a bit. IVFPharmacy seems to really mainly be just for getting the vials of meds if you have other means of getting extra needles, and if you aren’t in a hurry. They did save me money several times, but in between I had to order through Walgreens.
We used Mandell’s Pharmacy based out of New Jersey. We got a really good price, but we also had several coupons, so I don’t remember well enough to know what the price would have been like without those. I’m so excited for you! Four months will pass before you know it!
Ooh, I will have to look into them and see! Thanks for the mention! Where did you get the coupons from? Were they just on their site for use or did your doctor supply them?
Logan, Going to contact Mandells tomorrow. How or where did you get the coupons from>? Were you able to do financing on balance?
I’m pretty sure I used the same pen for all my vials, so that should be reusable at least.
I found Bravelle to be the cheapest med, but doctors don’t seem to like using it as much because it’s in vials and needs reconstitution. I had no issues with it myself. We had the twins with Bravelle, V was Follistim/Gonal-f (with donated meds).
Hey!! I went back and re-read your blog post recently on what happens in an inject cycle and it was so helpful prior to my appointment on Monday. I felt like I went in armed with good info! I asked my doctor what her opinion is on the different injects and she just said she sees success in them all, Follistim is just what she is used to (and what she conceived twins on herself), so it’s what she generally recommends. We’ll try it and see what happens… eek! I’m so excited!!!
For those who are returning for an update – I’m happy to say that I ordered my meds through IVFpharmacy.com and received them in 1 week! Their prices also lowered since I originally wrote this post, so I updated the pricing today. I’m so glad I chose them over the others! They were swift with their email responses as well, and very honest when it came to when they could ship the package out.
Jessi,
The Follistim that you ordered from IVFpharmacy.com, did it work? My doctor comments that the potency from overseas companies is not guaranteed which scares me but if I could by 2 vial of 600ius for price of 1 at US drug company then I will. Just wondering. Thanks in advance
Hi Ashley! I didn’t have issues with potency as far as I could tell. My response was rocky to both overseas and domestic Follistim, but both performed the same when I got my dose up to 150-200 IU. I couldn’t tell a difference. Hope that helps!
Jessi,
Thanks for your rich information and research! I know this takes a hell of time! When you order follistim from IVFpharmacy.com, does it come with needles? I have a pen from a previous cycle, but no needles at all. Just wonder since it takes a while for the meds to arrive and I don’t want to face a situation where I have the meds, pen but just no needles 😛
Another question is, does the follistim come with enough ice packs so the temperature during shipping is maintained at the low level that follistim needs to be? I know Gonal-F does need low temperature. Will the long duration of shipping affect the quality of medication? Or the long wait time is just due to when they ship, but not affecting how long the meds will stay in transit?
Thanks a lot!
Chi
Hi Chi! The Follistim pack did come with needles inside the box – I believe there was 9 total. As for the meds, they did not come refrigerated, and I know there are some varying opinions on whether that affects the quality of the meds. From what I understood, it’s more important to be refrigerated after it has been punctured. I did not see a difference in quality between what I bought overseas and what I bought in the US. My response was the exact same, and I still needed a really high dose in the end to get the response we wanted. I believe I was up to 225 IU per day in the end. I hope that helps!
Jessi – How was the outcome – did you have a baby after the follistim?
No, I did not conceive on Follistim. I conceived naturally 16 months after my last Follistim cycle, but miscarried.
Was searching info and stumbled on this blog post.
(Funny thing, I already follow ya on Instagram;)
Great Post!!! So much information. My nurse told me about IvfMeds.com, but not ivfpharmacy.com. Getting Meds together for Ivf/ICSI #2 next month. (Ivf/ICSI #1 ended in MC)
What a price difference compared to the states.
The thing that kills me is I was saving my leftover Meds for round 2, and it kept getting pushed back (more surgeries) and now I have 8 vials of menopur expired 🙁 ugh. This whole game is so tiring.
Hey Beth! How expired are they? The meds may lose some potency, but will your doctor let you use them anyway? I would hate for you to lose all that! Expired doesn’t really mean “bad”, just weaker… so maybe… just maybe you can use them! It may just mean a higher “dose”, but still. It’s worth a shot to ask! Good luck!
I Was searching info and stumbled on this blog post. I still have 600iu of follism left from the 900iu cartidge in fridge. my last injection was mid March. I will start my 2nd cycle starting May. My nurse said it is only valid for 30 days, i shouldn’t use the leftover. but some dr. said 60 days. any advise?
I’ve heard 60 days as well. In this case, I would ask a pharmacist if you can. The Follistim isn’t going to go rancid in that time period… if anything, it might weaken a tiny bit, but I seriously don’t think it’ll be a problem. For me, personally, I would use it. Follistim is too expensive to waste when it’s been such a short time period. Good luck!