Where can i get this from? (Gabapentin)

cocoluvsmummy

Hi ,
Jess has been back at the specialists today and her new plan of treatment is to try and get her pain more controlled so she will try to use her leg more. The long term outlook is a knee replacment but this is prohibitaryly expensive and she has also gone through enough so far this year. Her specialist has recomended we try Gabapentin 100mg twice a day.

We have got 2 weeks supply and he is happy to post me a prescripton out next week if it seems to be helping so i can buy it more cheaply on the internet. This is the problem.. i can't for the life of me find any on the internet.. any suggestions why?
it seems to have alternate name of neurontin but can't track this down either

thanks in anticipation
Coco and Jess

simontheiceman

Well Coco... My Oh my do you have expensive tastes in drugs. I must introduce you to a patient of mine on Viagra at £8 a day.

The straightforward and most likely reason for your struggle to gain a price on Neurontin is the same struggle I had for one of my clients with Viagra. It is that it is a human drug with a high price tag. The online Vet pharmacies are simply only really interested in easy to shift high volume "cherry picks" e.g. Metacam. The Neurontin situation is probably worse than Viagra as there is a limited human private market (unlike Viagra). You could do little worse than contact your local human pharmacy and see if they will do you a "deal" which is what they did for my client and her Viagra needs (she buys £600 worth at a time and they discount it heavily). I couldnt match it so I didnt bother trying. My wholesaler has plenty Neurontin so there shouldnt be a supply issue.

tobykim

They are tablets foe epilepsy and I've been taking them for some time although not for epilepsy but to control pain, I can't see that you would be able to buy them cheaply as they are a controlled drug

dawnybabes

Dont know if its any use but in my local Sainsburys this week there was an announcement over the tannoy that they can fulfil vet prescriptions now.

Milford_Cubicle

tobykim wrote: »

they are a controlled drug

Not a controlled drug but a prescription drug, there is a difference

This from the BNF:

BNF wrote:

Gabapentin 100mg net price 100 cap pack = £15.38

That's cost price, so pharmacies may stick a decent mark up on that.

You might be able to get it from the US if you have a prescription, some US pharmacy sites will supply to the UK or because it's a 'human' medication, there's a chance any pharmacy will supply it to you, but most likely at the price I stated above rather than the NHS prescription cost. Let your vet know that you can get it as a 100 capsule pack and he might write you a script for that.
I assume you got the 2 weeks supply from your vet - if you don't mind me asking, how much did it cost you?

simontheiceman

Milford_Cubicle wrote: »

Not a controlled drug but a prescription drug, there is a difference

You might be able to get it from the US if you have a prescription, some US pharmacy sites will supply to the UK or because it's a 'human' medication, there's a chance any pharmacy will supply it to you, but most likely at the price I stated above rather than the NHS prescription cost. Let your vet know that you can get it as a 100 capsule pack and he might write you a script for that.
I assume you got the 2 weeks supply from your vet - if you don't mind me asking, how much did it cost you?

Legally; if you wish to import this drug from the US for use in an animal you WILL need an STA (Special Treatment Authorisation), which I can be fairly sure will not be granted in this case as the drug is widely available in the UK. I use these for allergy vaccines which are made in France and have used the system in the past to import hyaluronic acid containing eye drops. The STA has a cost and then you will have drug costs on top. Your best bet is still your local pharmacist.

cocoluvsmummy

Hi i dont mind you asking the cost at all, after all thats what we aree here for, to share our ideas re money etc. My specialist vet supplied them at 45p per capsule, i have just rung my local vet and they don't stock it and are unable to give me the price atm as they would have to order in for me. So it looks like the net price in the BNF shows they are available cheaper, its a just a case of seeing if i can persuade a human supplyer to supply me privatly with an animal px

cocoluvsmummy

Thanks for the advice , i have picked up my Gabapentin today sourced from my local human pharmacy. Total cost for 100 capsules was £14.50 ,(14.5p a capsule) a HUGE saving on the 43p the vet was charging.

hardpressed

simontheiceman wrote: »

Well Coco... My Oh my do you have expensive tastes in drugs. I must introduce you to a patient of mine on Viagra at £8 a day.

The straightforward and most likely reason for your struggle to gain a price on Neurontin is the same struggle I had for one of my clients with Viagra. It is that it is a human drug with a high price tag. The online Vet pharmacies are simply only really interested in easy to shift high volume "cherry picks" e.g. Metacam. The Neurontin situation is probably worse than Viagra as there is a limited human private market (unlike Viagra). You could do little worse than contact your local human pharmacy and see if they will do you a "deal" which is what they did for my client and her Viagra needs (she buys £600 worth at a time and they discount it heavily). I couldnt match it so I didnt bother trying. My wholesaler has plenty Neurontin so there shouldnt be a supply issue.

I'm curious to know why an animal is on viagra, unless I've misunderstood and it's a human client!

simontheiceman

hardpressed wrote: »

I'm curious to know why an animal is on viagra, unless I've misunderstood and it's a human client!

Well funnily enough, the vascular effects of Viagra are not limited to the genital region and the drug has a number of more prosaic uses. One of these is in the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension. This is well known in humans but reports on its use in animals are limited to anecdotal evidence supplied by peers. Eventually enough patients will have been treated to allow a full paper to be published, but the condition is quite rare. My patient is certainly doing very well.

Milford_Cubicle

cocoluvsmummy wrote: »

Thanks for the advice , i have picked up my Gabapentin today sourced from my local human pharmacy. Total cost for 100 capsules was £14.50 ,(14.5p a capsule) a HUGE saving on the 43p the vet was charging.

That certainly is a much more attractive price! Even less than the BNF quotes as well