Looking for the cheapest source of Isoprinosine

[Eucalypta]

All,

My physician gave me a prescription for Isoprinosine and although he does have some Canadian sources where I can order it he encouraged me to find more cheaper sources.

Does anyone of you know a better deal than $280 (USD) for 100 500mg?

I'm currently checking in with my expat friends in France where it's suppose to be available OTC. The word is it will cost 40 EUR for 100 tablets, so I'm keeping fingers crossed but I know from living in France myself that French pharmacies can be extremely difficult with sending stuff overseas, if you know the French bureaucracy than you know what French custom forms look like and I can't blame them if they don't want to go that route.

If anyone has any other leads please share! Will keep you posted on the French connection ;-)

 

[Anika]

Isoprinosine - Cost

Are you trying to get shipped to the U.S.? From the Canadian company that distributes it, something like Rivex Pharma? - the cost with shipping to U.S. if I recall was about $300 for 300 - that is, 3 boxes of 100. Shipping was about 10% of the cost. So it sounds like maybe you were quoted for 300? To get just one box of 100, it might cost disproportionately more, and you have the high cost of shipping, too. If you really want to try it for a 6 month trial, you'd need to get more than 3 boxes anyway.

I'd suggest checking back with the Canadian company and get a quote for quantity 300. Keep in mind that shipping costs, and there is certain paperwork that should be followed to import this legally - the Canadian company takes care of that, be sure anyplace that you order from is reliable on shipping to U.S.

Let us know what you find out.

 

[minimus]

The amino acid Inosine is exactly the same as Isoprinosine. Dr. Cheney has replaced Isoprinosine with Inosine in his practice. You can buy 60 500 mg. capsules from iHerb.com for about $12-17. This is a far less expensive source than Rivex.

 

[Tony]

Report of Prof De Meirleir, 2007

Isoprinosine and inosine.

When asked about the immune modulating medication Isoprinosine [which boosts natural killer cells], he mentioned that the basic amino acid version of inosine is as effective. [Inosine is available in Australia as an over the counter nutritional supplement. One brand which produces it is Musashi - www.musashi.com.au.]

 

[m1she11e]

Inosine

Does anyone know the dosing on the Inosine?

Thanks,
Michelle

 

[minimus]

I don't know what DeMeirleir recommends, but Cheney's protocol for Isoprinosine used to be 2 capsules (250 mg. per capsule) three times per day (morning, mid-day, and evening) Monday through Friday, with none taken on Saturday or Sunday. In other words, take 500 mg. of Isoprinosine or inosine three times per day (for a total of 1500 mg. per day) for 5 out of 7 days each week.

 

[Marylib]

Isoprinosine equals inosine?

So both Cheney and De Mierlier say they are equal? And the dosage as well? Seems too neat...but would be great if true.
Thanks everybody.
Marylib

 

[garcia]

Isoprinosine dosage information kindly provided by CFSince98 here:

http://cfsendeavor.blogspot.com/2009/06/imunovir-versus-inosine.html

 

[Marylib]

Thanks Garcia.
From what I read on that blog, "CFS since 98" is as yet undecided if the inosine (as opposed to isoprinosine/immunovir) is helping. Did you understand this to be the case?
If so, what we have is Prof Mierlier's opinion but not much else? Not putting Prof down at all, just trying to be clear.
The only study of isoprinosine that I know of came out of Miami (scientist named Flethcer?) and it was using isoprinosine, NOT inosine.

 

[cfs since 1998]

Thanks Garcia.
From what I read on that blog, "CFS since 98" is as yet undecided if the inosine (as opposed to isoprinosine/immunovir) is helping. Did you understand this to be the case?
If so, what we have is Prof Mierlier's opinion but not much else? Not putting Prof down at all, just trying to be clear.
The only study of isoprinosine that I know of came out of Miami (scientist named Flethcer?) and it was using isoprinosine, NOT inosine.

Hi, that's me. According to what minimus wrote above, Cheney has changed the dosing he uses. If anything it is simpler now. However, I do still think that taking a one month break every two months is beneficial. Once you've taken it awhile it doesn't seem to do anything. I might even change my dosing to 4 weeks on, 2 weeks off.

While Cheney and De Meirler both said inosine can be used for immunovir, I do not know the scientific rationale behind this. I know they are similar, they both increase uric acid and wikipedia said inosine is an antiviral. But I really don't know if they act differently in the body.

I definitely feel that it was doing something with my viral infections especially in the beginning of each round, but whether this or any of the other supplements I'm trying will result in long term improvements remains to be seen.

 

[Marylib]

Many thanks.

 

[cfs since 1998]

Does anyone of you know a better deal than $280 (USD) for 100 500mg?

Just found this:

http://www.life-extension-drugs.com/isoprinosine.html

This site is apparently offering it for just over half that. It looks a little suspect though and the domain is registered to someone in Bulgaria. I guess if it's a scam you could always do a chargeback to your credit card company. It looks like the site has been around for quite a few years though.

 

[cfs since 1998]

inosine vs. isoprinosine

According to the Wikipedia articles on inosine and isoprinosine, inosine has the chemical formula C10H12N4O5 whereas isoprinosine has the formula C52H78N10O17. So they are different chemicals. As I said Cheney and DeMeirler have not given, at least not publicly, any rationale for using one for the other. Just because they both have inosine in them doesn't mean a whole lot--for example, we all breathe oxygen as O2 but yet O3 is a pollutant. I have never been able to find any studies of plain inosine on immune function or viral infection. Honestly if I had a prescription and source to buy it at a price that was affordable to me, I would go for the real mccoy, or at least try them both for at least a month each and see if I could tell a difference. (I just posted a site in Europe that seems to be selling isoprinosine without a prescription so I'm considering it...)

Now, I've been trying to answer this question for many months and finally I found one of the original patents from 1974, which calls this an inosine aminoalcohol complex.

It claims that inosine and the inosine aminoalcohol complex have different biological effects. It starts talking about the antiviral effects at column 3, line 36 and again at column 5, line 41. It states inosine is almost completely ineffective against viruses.

Anyway I hope this information is useful, I'd like to analyze it more but I'm too tired and brainfogged to try to understand the rest. Plus I don't know chemistry. Maybe if we have some chemists here we can figure out how to make our own homemade immunovir.

 

[garcia]

Hi CFSsince98. Not a chemist, but an experimentalist here. I tried imunovir and I felt pretty good on it. When I first started taking it I had a really bad cold and felt really lousy. Took imunovir and within a few minutes I felt fantastic. Ok it didn't instantly cure the cold, but it was obviously acting anti-virally. I've been following the Cheney dosing protocol that you posted on your blog. I have to say I tended to feel better at the higher dosage (3 x2tabs a day).

Since I ran out I decided to order inosine and compare. I have to say that I haven't been overly impressed. I'm sure they have some things in common (possibly increasing uric acid), but overall I don't think it packs the same punch as imunovir.

I've re-ordered the imunovir, this time from the place in France. Great analysis above BTW. I'll take a look at the patent.

P.S. great blog. But why does your blog look exactly the same as patient_advocate's blog?? I keep getting the two confused!

 

[cfs since 1998]

Since I ran out I decided to order inosine and compare. I have to say that I haven't been overly impressed. I'm sure they have some things in common (possibly increasing uric acid), but overall I don't think it packs the same punch as imunovir.

Thank you so much for letting us know that it seemed imunovir worked better than regular inosine. I had been hoping someone would take both and compare them. I would definitely like to try the real imunovir myself (but why does it have to have so many different names!?).

But why does your blog look exactly the same as patient_advocate's blog?? I keep getting the two confused!

Sorry about that. It is a premade template and apparently we just happened to both pick the same one. I'll at least change the background for now.

 

[cfs since 1998]

paydirt

I have hit paydirt. It's going to take me awhile to write this up, so it won't be until tomorrow before I am able to post it, but I had to mention it now. It IS possible to easily make a substance nearly identical to Immunovir for 1/10th the price using off-the-shelf nutritional supplements. I was very suprised because I did not know one of these was sold as a supplement. I had never heard of it.

 

[Marylib]

Looking forward to this!

 

[Marylib]

Isoprinosine over the counter in France -- yes you can.

There has been much controversy about this:

Last year a friend got me a 6 month supply of isoprinosine over the counter while she was in France.

When I posted this info here and on another site, others said that their French friends reported the drug was not available without an rx. Kind of crazy making.

Just this week, my stepmother was able to purchase isoprinosine over the counter for me in France. Unfortunately she is not in France long enough for the pharmacy to order in as much as I need.

Therefore, here is the latest:

You can buy isoprinosine over the counter in France.
You cannot have a French pharmacy ship it outside of France.

Hope this helps clear this up.

 

[garcia]

I have hit paydirt. It's going to take me awhile to write this up, so it won't be until tomorrow before I am able to post it, but I had to mention it now. It IS possible to easily make a substance nearly identical to Immunovir for 1/10th the price using off-the-shelf nutritional supplements. I was very suprised because I did not know one of these was sold as a supplement. I had never heard of it.

I'm interested too. If you post your recipe and I'm able to reproduce it then I can compare to imunovir.

BTW my imunovir arrived this morning. Its the real deal. Manufactured by newport pharmaceuticals. I took some this morning and got a big immune reaction, so I'm pretty sure now that it is not the same as just plain inosine (although inosine may have some of the benefits).

 

[Marylib]

Your isoprinosine

Hi Garcia,

Sorry just wrote the post below and then checked and you had PM'd me about it. Thanks! Still wanting to know info below when you have a chance. I will let you know more about French isoprinosine for your curiosity if nothing else.


"Just PM'd you about this but looks like your meds arrived already. I hope you don't think me tedious, but I am interested in where it was manufactured.

The stuff I got over the counter in France was manufactured in France by Sanofi Aventis. I think Newport owns the license but others manufacture it?

Anyway, I cannot find on Goldpharma the stuff manufactured in France -- only in the Emirates.

At any rate, sounds like yours is good stuff. Hoping you are better real soon and that we can indeed cook up our homemade stuff at a lower cost."

Thanks again
Marylib