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Sources for BH4?

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Swim15

Senior Member
Messages
369
The only one I’ve found so far is nootropic source but was curious if anyone knew any other ways/places to get it?

Seems like it could very easily address a lot of CFS issues and surprised I haven’t seen more people try it.

I ordered from NS and will be trying this weekend but it’s a very unstable compound and wanted to see if there were any other sources in case the results aren’t what I expect
 
Learner1

Learner1

Senior Member
Messages
6,305
Location
Pacific Northwest
@Swim15 You can buy Kuvan from a specialty pharmacy. 10mg daily ran about $150 per month when I last looked. There are now 2 generics that just came on the market, from Par and one other. Hopefully the price will come down. They all should be more stable than the supplement.

The drug was also slightly cheaper than the research chemical or supplement, per milligram.

If you have mutations on GCH1, QDPR, PTS or PCBD1 genes or high phenylalanine and low tyrosine on a amino panel, you might be able to convince your insurance to pay for it.
 
helios

helios

Senior Member
Messages
136
Location
Brisbane
Learner1 said:
@Swim15 You can buy Kuvan from a specialty pharmacy. 10mg daily ran about $150 per month when I last looked. There are now 2 generics that just came on the market, from Par and one other. Hopefully the price will come down. They all should be more stable than the supplement.
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Gee that's a lot more affordable than I thought. I looked it up and in my country its limited to just those who have PKU due to the cost being over $50k / pa. I'm not sure what dosage a PKU patient requires though. I thought I saw Kuvan tablets at 100mg
 
Learner1

Learner1

Senior Member
Messages
6,305
Location
Pacific Northwest
helios said:
Gee that's a lot more affordable than I thought. I looked it up and in my country its limited to just those who have PKU due to the cost being over $50k / pa. I'm not sure what dosage a PKU patient requires though. I thought I saw Kuvan tablets at 100mg
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Well, I would expect it's more expensive in the US just like every other pharmaceutical. I get it in 100 mg powder packets, then mix them two at a time in an eyedropper bottle with 20 ml of water, then eye dropper out my dose each morning under my tongue, where I leave it for about 4-5 minutes before going on with my day. I feel an immediate, positive clearing in my temples and eyes, and sharper thinking, and better energy.
 
gintrux

gintrux

Messages
14
look up l-sepiapterin, it's a bh4 precursor and it was shown to be more effective than bh4 itself at raising blood levels of bh4. I didn't find a source to buy from. If you could organize a group buy from a chemical synthesis company, I would be in.
 
Learner1

Learner1

Senior Member
Messages
6,305
Location
Pacific Northwest
gintrux said:
look up l-sepiapterin, it's a bh4 precursor and it was shown to be more effective than bh4 itself at raising blood levels of bh4. I didn't find a source to buy from. If you could organize a group buy from a chemical synthesis company, I would be in.
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Kuvan IS Sapropterin hydrochloride. All the forms of BH4 were slightly more expensive than Kuvan last time I looked, including the research chemical. And Kuvan and the new generics are stabilized, which is important if you want it to work, which the other forms are not.
 
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Swim15

Senior Member
Messages
369
jaybee00 said:
Dosage is 10mg/kg or 1g/ day for a 100kg person
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No sure if srs...dose for something like CFS would be 10mg a few times per week. That might be the dose used in animal studies but that isn’t the same human dose
 
Learner1

Learner1

Senior Member
Messages
6,305
Location
Pacific Northwest
jaybee00 said:
https://www.drugs.com/dosage/kuvan.html
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That's for patients with full-blown PKU, which is genetic and typically quite noticable in childhood.

With that said, there are different genes affecting either the production of BH4 or the recycling of it to different degrees, including QDPR, PTS, PCBD1, and GCH1.

Additionally, there is the possibility that BH4 is used at different rates in different patients due to other genetic or environmental factors.

At 10mg a day, Kuvan has been running about US$150 a month (not sure if the new generic had made it any cheaper). Ay your dosing, @jaybee00 it would mean 500-800mg for an adult woman or US$7,500-12,000.

Ecological Formulas Pteridin-4, which is not stabilized and must be shipped cold, and comes in 2.5 mg capsules, so that would be taking 200-320 capsules a day. Irs out of stock a lot and purchases are typically limited to a single 60 capsule bottle at a time. If you could get it, it would be $9,480-15,168 a month.

After starting at 10mg Kuvan per day, then switching to 20mg after I found that I was crashing mid afternoon, I've found that 20mg a day works just fine, and my insurance covers it.
 
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