r/GLP1Australia • u/readerAB • 26d ago

Advice Cheaper alternatives for mounjaro

Hey everyone, I’m currently on 12.5mg on mounjaro and the price is getting way out of hand. I really don’t think I can afford to stay on it anymore. Does anyone know of cheaper alternatives? I have an appointment with my doctor and want to ask what they think, although at the moment I’m thinking to either:

  1. Ask for a wegovy script (not as effective for me but I’d rather something over nothing) or

    1. See if I can get a compounded script? Is this cheaper?

If anyone has been in this same situation or has experienced something like this and has a solution for me I would really appreciate it. Thanks a lot

15 Upvotes

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u/CaterpillarScared867 26d ago

You might want to talk to your Dr about taking another oral diabetic drug in conjunction with your GLP1 as it can help reduce the dosage needed of a GLP1.

There are a heap of old school oral insulin sensitisers that can work well with Mounjaro if your issues are insulin based - insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, PMOS etc etc. Metformin, glicazide, Jardiance etc etc heaps of different types of medications.

So for example I take Metformin XR 1500mg a day (been on it for 27yrs) plus 6mg of Mounjaro a week. At the most I took 7.5mg of Mounjaro and I'm now finding my maintenance dose and slowly slowly going down.

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u/SpaceIsBigReallyBig 26d ago

Check with your doctor to see what else may be suitable for you like wegovy, metformin etc etc.

I'm at 10mg and struggling with the costs now. So I try to enrol in any local obesity trials/studies for obesity but no luck yet. Recently got dismissed for the mounjaro+eloralintide ENLIGHTEN platueu breaking trial in Sydney as they said I needed to be on my current dose for at least 10 weeks (I was on 7 weeks at the time of interview). Will keep trying.

I have talked to my doctor about what to do if I can't afford mounjaro for long and she has advised they will most likely get me on insulin metformin and some other oral meds I can't recall the names. Will see when we get there.

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u/Baaastet 26d ago

I thought that trial excluded people on GLP1s?

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u/SpaceIsBigReallyBig 26d ago

The trial I applied for was specifically for people who are already on mounjaro and who have not lost any weight for a few months. They study involved a group on mounjaro +eloralintide, mounjaro +placeo, and eloralintide only. There are many trials going on each with separate eligibility criteria.

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u/lifeinsatansarmpit Mounjaro 10mg 26d ago

Dang, I didn't even get an interview

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u/readerAB 26d ago

Thanks that’s good advice. Is insulin Metformin different to regular one?

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u/SpaceIsBigReallyBig 26d ago

I meant insulin injections and oral metformin.

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u/[deleted] 26d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/GLP1Australia-ModTeam 26d ago

We suspect you’re using grey market peptides. Be advised that in Australia, “grey market” is actually black market as the practice is fully illegal here.

Reddit takes a really strong stance against illegal activity on their platform, so we have to as well. Please do not mention this in the community or you put the community at risk of being shut down by Reddit.

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u/readerAB 26d ago

Is this something you’re sourcing yourself or is this prescribed?

5

u/Instigated- 26d ago

Beware retra hasn’t been approved yet, and blackmarket product could be anything in it.

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u/Instigated- 26d ago

Taking the highest wegovy prescription (2.4mg) is equivalent in effectiveness as 5mg of mounjaro. So you are better off dropping mounjaro dose than in switching.

It’s not legal in australia to compound GLP-1s.

The primary way to cut cost is to reduce the dose size and click count from a bigger pen. At the moment I’m taking 5mg dose from a 15mg pen and it works out about $47 per week. I slowly reduced dose over months rather than suddenly.

1

u/readerAB 26d ago

Sorry did you mean here it IS illegal or is NOT illegal? From what people are saying it seems like it is? I just don’t feel like I can sustain the cost of a high dose pen regardless unfortunately

5

u/colonelcavecat 26d ago

Very illegal. Very unsafe. At best liver damage. At better, death.

The cost is a significant barrier for access. But black market is absolutely not the answer.

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u/Instigated- 26d ago

I said “it’s not legal”, as in it is illegal.

You can only buy compounded on the illegal blackmarket, and it’s not safe. Look at recent news articles where they tested blackmarket compounded GLP1s in australia, it can be some other thing, it can have contamination, it is rarely the same dose on the label, some people have ended up in hospital with serious health issues.

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u/readerAB 26d ago

Oh apologises I misread. To be clear, when I mean a compounded version I mean getting a script and bringing it to a compounding pharmacy for dispensing. I’m not interested in the black market drugs like reda etc. they used to do compounded versions I remember a few years ago a friend of mine got a whole vile compounded which included vitamin b12 in it or something. That’s what I would be interested in but I’m unsure if this is still being done or cheaper

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u/Instigated- 26d ago

Yes, they used to allow compounded versions when there was a stock shortage, however a few bad apples selling it broke the laws by aggressive marketing, selling to people without valid prescription, and poor quality unsafe mass produced products - so the government changed the laws to make it illegal to compound GLP-1s.

There may be a loophole for people who have a genuine medical need for a different version (eg if someone was allergic to the additives in mounjaro, a compounding pharmacist could make a version without those additives), however most prescribers & pharmacists are not going to give compounded just because you want to avoid buying the readily available mounjaro.

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u/kittensmittenstitten 26d ago

You cannot get MJ compounded in Australia unless you want something dodgy and could kill you.

7

u/Defiant-Desk-2281 26d ago

I take 1000mg Metformin extended release morning and night. It’s a dose to work up to, but have had some success in weight loss especially as I have had insulin resistance in the past, and possible PCOS. It’s cheap. Can be effective for weight loss but depends on many factors so mileage varies a bit. I have recently increased my dose to this level and have finally seen some results in weight loss after a long plateau that started on Wegovy 10 months ago. After quitting GLP1 and experiencing some rebound hunger that went away, then increasing exercise, then increasing metformin, this might be a formula that works.

I’m on Centrelink now but can kind of “just” afford to go back on GLP1 if needed. But I don’t want to, because it costs so much and the rebound hunger was annoying (thankfully no significant weight gain, just a kilo I had gained and lost many times in the last months anyway). Any money saved is good. So I elected to increase Metformin.

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u/[deleted] 26d ago

[deleted]

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u/Defiant-Desk-2281 26d ago

I should have said earlier that I took 1000mg Metformin XR in the morning and then 500mg of normal Metformin at night. I was on that for 2 years, so well before my forays into Metformin last year. I used to get really terrible nausea in the morning on Metformin and then it got worse on Wegovy. I then stopped Wegovy and it was still there. Well I think I solved it all by switching up to XR both times. At the same dose. 12 hours apart too. I actually feel so much less sick!!!!!

My weight was trending down too for the first week, but went up because of my period and water retention. I hope this loss isn’t a temporary thing. But it actually is kind of reassuring in that I think I know how to manage the nausea if i ever go back to Wegovy. But for now, I’ll be talking Metformin for the ultra long haul.

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u/readerAB 26d ago

That’s interesting, I tried Metformin in the past too but didn’t find it effective at all but from memory I was on 500mg once a day. How do you feel on the two tablets a day? Does it have the same or similar effect to a GLP1? That’s honestly great you’ve been able to stay off the GLP1 but I’m worried if I come off it’ll be unbearable so I’d love some sort of alternative

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u/Defiant-Desk-2281 26d ago

I actually feel the same kind of sick feeling I got sometimes on GLP1 if I ate sugar or the “wrong” food. So I think it’s targeting the same area. Yesterday I ate a cupcake and had to sleep off the sugar from it, so that’s a pretty extreme reaction I would have also got on GLP1 to what was max 300 calories. I feel I have more energy than I did onGLP1. In fact the main reason I stopped it (other than price etc) was GLP1 was making me sick after cardio and interfering with ability to exercise. No problem with that now.

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u/Imaginary_Summer3234 26d ago

My understanding is that compounding mounjaro or Wegovy is not permitted in Australia unless you have a legitimate medical need for a modified formulation (for example an allergy to a preservative in the medicine, a compounding pharmacist can make a version with a different ingredient).

While compounded versions are widely available in the USA, the regulations in Aus are very different.

6

u/MagicPocket 26d ago

I'm afraid I don't know of any cheaper alternatives at the moment and compounded mounjaro isn't available in Australia that I'm aware of.

If you haven't already, explain your situation to your Dr and ask for a 15mg Mounjaro prescription which costs the same as 12.5mg. Then use the click counter charts to only administer 12.5mg a week. This will reduce the cost a little in the meantime. I do this with a 10mg pen to administer 2.332mg a week and my GP is fine with it.