Sourcing our own IVF Drugs - Help needed.

[tanya8284]

We start our first IVF cycle start of january and would like to try saving some money by sourcing them ourselves. I've read Asda sell IVF drugs at cost price but how do you order them? In store on-line email? If anyone can recommend somewhere they have used before that sells IVF drugs cheaper then what the clinic prescribe i would be really greatly.

i think (think) you still need a prescription where ever you get them from, i "think".... (unsure bout the prescription bit. for iui we got ours from "healthcare at home" apparently cheaper than a lot of places. ive also read Asda sell them too, give them a ring n ask pharmacist. good luck with ivf. x

My clinic used healthcare at home too.
It didnt seem too bad price. Cons didnt seem too keen to write a prescription instead.
They sent gonal f instead of menopur - clinic error so we used that the following cycle.
If you want to know they charged just say.
Asda you mighyt need to order in advance though if long protocol that wont be an issue

Were also self funding ivf in Jan and I asked in Asda about the drugs. Basically you get a prescription from the clinic and take it in like you normally would, they told me it would need to be in for 11.30am to get it the same day and they couldnt tell me how much it would be without the prescription
Theyre meant to be cost price tho

I got mine from ASDA for two out of my 3 (2 fresh, one FET) cycles. ASDA do indeed do IVF drugs at cost price. You just need to ask your clinic for a prescription because you want to get your drugs elsewhere.
I was able to get a price too - I got the price list from my clinic and phoned my local ASDA pharmacy (Farnborough, if that's any good to you) with drug names/doses to compare. They were very helpful. They did need an original prescription and usually 24 hours to get the drugs in - they have some in stock, but not all - so if you end up being prescribed something at the last minute you might be better using your clinic.
The other thing to take into consideration is the fact that for some meds, they don't know in advance how much you're going to need. For example, and especially if it's your first cycle, they don't know how you will respond to stims. If you're getting your drugs from the clinic, they will prescribe enough to get you to your next appointment, because you can always get more on the spot. If you're in the position that you need 24 hours notice to order drugs, you will need them to guess in advance and prescribe less cautiously.
For me, all the drugs except Gonal-F were cheaper at ASDA. For the first fresh cycle, I saved £160 by getting my drugs from ASDA. For my last cycle I had a mix of menopur and Gonal-F and the difference in price for Gonal-F was so great that it made it cheaper overall to get all the drugs from the clinic. I could, of course, have got everything else at ASDA, but in that cycle it was only going to save me about £40, so for the sake of convenience I got them from the clinic.

Asda were expensive for me - I am shopping around and Sainsburys are the cheapest for me at the moment - cheaper than Homecare

Set and afternoon aside and ring round once you have your list of drugs. I found Asda cheapest for everything apart from the FSH stimms (Fostimon and Merional) which I got from healthcare at home. Your clinc should be able to fax a prescription straight to h@h and with AsDa you just go in to the pharmacy counter and order them xx

Hello, new to mumsnet so hopefully this is in the right place. I also know this is an old thread but it seems like the best spot.

My partner and I will be undergoing IVF in the coming months and have been given a drugs requirement list totalling £2100. We thought this was very high and so have got a few quotes around the £1600 mark for the exact same brand names etc... Furthermore we have sourced a local pharmacy who could get the drugs for around £750 but would need the prescription with the medication names (as opposed to brands).

We have indicated this to our IVF provider and they haven't taken it well at all. They are quoting £250 for the prescription to be written and also being very robust with us in terms of "not being able to stand over the drugs" etc... Basically they are indicating that our treatment will be at risk if anything goes awry.

I totally understand they have to say such but they are being pushy and rude because we are sourcing alternatives outside their supplier.

I'm hoping someone might have some advice or experience that may help?

@Steph89000 what clinic are you with? Their stance is ridiculous. You are well within your rights to get a private prescription and get the drugs yourself.

I do this, my clinic charge £50 for a script but in my case they don't charge me, I assume this is because I have to have a more expensive medication due to an allergy which significantly increases the cost. I would question why their script cost is so high, that is beyond ridiculous.

Asda are usually the cheapest as they will sell you the drugs at cost price.

You will need to make sure you have needles, syringes and a sharps box, some of the medications come with needles and syringes, others don't. I order these things from Medisave and if the pharmacy can't tell you which needles and syringes to get, if you tell me the drugs you're on and the volumes you need to inject, then I'll help.

That's quite underhand of your clinic @Steph89000. Ofcourse they wish to get a cut from your meds but it's horrid they'll infer your treatment might be jeopardised as a result. Can you change your clinic? Fertility2U, Stork Fertility, Asda etc all accpet prescriptions for IVF even foreign prescriptions as many of us do IVF abroad.

Just to add my thoughts to this one - my clinic does not charge anything for the prescription and it was very much a case of "we can arrange Stork delivery for you or you can source your own". No problems whatsoever. I would be concerned with this behaviour of your clinic - if you have other options for clinics then I would maybe consider them instead as they seem rather money-making!

I did my first round with the clinic arranging delivery via Stork as I wanted to just be sure it was all ok but second one I'm starting soon and I got the private prescription and just tried a few places and went with Asda. Now I'm familiar with the medications I felt comfortable doing this. Stork was approx £2100 and Asda £1600 so happy with that (a few other quotes around £1800 I think).

No doubt I'll need extra meds during the cycle and for ease will probably go with Stork but happy I've saved £500 to begin with.

Mine all came with the necessary needles/syringes but that might be due to the specific medications I ordered..