IVF drug costs

[LittleDoveLove]

Hello

I am looking at getting some costs from Asda, Tesco etc for my IVF drugs. My main driver for this is because my clinic doesn't keep drugs refrigerated and this is what I want to do as one of them has a short lifespan. However the drugs this time around are extortionate.

Has anyone used the supermarkets / local pharmacy and if so how have you got the quote? Did your clinic give you the prescription to show them and did you go in to a local pharmacy branch?
Looking at Asda for example and they have info about the IVF drugs being good value but I can't see where I would order or get a quote.

Any suggestions or advice appreciated!

Hello! I read lots of great things about Asda being the cheapest so popped along to the asda pharmacy in my local branch. They were pretty useless to be honest. They told me to email them and they'd come back to me with costs, which they did but half of the stock was missing. I followed up asking how to proceed with the items that were in stock and haven't had a reply, despite chasing.

It could just be bad luck relating to that store, but it's put me off.

I've realised I'd rather pay more and get all of my supplies from one place and not have the stress of chasing and emailing and trying to source different things from different places.

I have no idea of costs etc as I didn't even started yet but, did you check online? sometimes it's cheaper online than local pharmacies. Worth the check

With Asda you often need to wait for meds to be ordered in. I've done it but there were a few days where I thought they wouldn't be in on time. If you were to use Asda I would order all drugs well in advance of the cycle and only proceed once they were all in your possession.

The up side is asda are way cheaper than clinics ( less than half the price for my lubion).

I've used Asda and they've been good. There are supply problems with some IVF drugs right now so you need to get them ordered early.

My clinic gave me a private prescription, I took it to Asda, they costed up the drugs while I waited.

Just be aware that some clinics charge for a private prescription so this becomes an additional cost on top of the price of the drugs.

Online pharmacies like The Fertility Pharmacy will also give you a quote if you send a scan/photo of the prescription. This helped me get an idea of the costs so I then knew that Asda was cheapest.

Thanks all for your replies that's great.
I did ring Asda and a few more and surprisingly my clinic is actually cheaper by quite a lot of money so guessing I'm sticking with them and they've explained how they will transport my drug that needs refrigeration so will go with that. Still can't get over the cost of these things! Thought it was bad last time and it's £1,200 more this time 😵‍💫.

I used a supermarket pharmacy for two private rounds and although it started out well it ended up being a stressful experience when a locum pharmacist had personal objections to dispensing IVF meds on a private prescription - consequently they still have a small amount of meds I paid for up front but they refused to dispense (long and boring story).

Pharmacists can refuse to dispense any medication for a number of reasons (including personal beliefs) and if this happens mid cycle it's horrendous. For the ease and stress levels I would always stick with the clinic dispensary, so I think you've made a good choice and it'll be worth the marginally higher cost.