How to get insulin from Canada

How to buy Fiasp, Novolog, or Humalog at a massive savings from Canada if you don’t have good insurance. I did it twice, and it worked: 

Method one – the most common and easiest way. Call up these guys https://rxcanada4less.com and just say you want it, and that you live in the US. They will send you one or two vials max on the first order, to make sure that you get it. On future orders, they will send more. Cost is $69.99 per 10ml vial or $109.99 for a pen, plus $25 for shipping. They have other drugs also, so check their website for what you need.

Method two – this is a lot more involved, but costs less. Order online from these guys https://www.diabetesexpress.ca. They will not ship to the USA, so you have to give them your Canadian address to ship to. They will call you to verify the order, and to make sure you know that it is not approved for use in Canada in a pump, so you are using it in pens or syringes. 

How do you get a Canadian address? You set up an account for the Montréal location of https://www.clevvermail.com. They may require scans of two forms of ID because they are a legit shipping agent. Cost for this method is $68.25 CAD for Fiasp Pen Cartridges 5 x 3ml. So that works out to $45.50 CAD for 10ml, which is $34.36 USD (their Humalog is $24.90 USD). Shipping is free to your Montréal address, and it only takes one day for it to go from the pharmacy to Montréal. Everything is packed in a cooler with ice packs. 

Clevvermail will ask you to provide a custom’s declaration. I said that it was “Health Products for Personal Use – no customs value” and I I was not charged anything by Customs. I also left the HS code blank and put 0 in the value section. I was told that as long as it is no more than a personal 90-day supply, Customs does not care about this. They do care if you have distribution quantities. I also noticed that Mark’s Marine does not use an HS code either.

I used the Clevvermail address as my Amex card billing address (as the order site requires a Canadian address), and it worked. So what does Clevvermail charge? The service is free monthly for six months, then goes to €0.95 per month ($1.06 USD). When they receive a package, they charge €2. They charge €15 to fill out a custom’s form. They charge actual shipping costs plus 20% markup to ship. If you let it sit there, they will charge €1 per day storage fee. For me, the total cost of them handling/forwarding this package came to about $49.

How long does it take? Mine sailed through Customs using Canada Post ground shipping and was in NY after about two days. Using this method seems to be about nine days total, but it depends on how it hits the weekends, and if there is a customs delay. 

You do have to think about how concerned you are with heat exposure, and it seems better to do in winter months if you don’t want to pay much more for air shipping. Insulin is rated for room temp for 30 days. 

So to get three pen cartridges by this method, which is the same amount of insulin as 4.5 bottles, including shipping, comes to about $45 USD per bottle. On my second order, I got six packs, and asked them for a 10% discount code, that got the cost down to $38 per 10ml delivered. You can fill a pump from pen cartridges using a syringe. 

There is just no reason to ever pay $300 a bottle for insulin.

4 Replies to “How to get insulin from Canada”

  1. How many times did you ship insulin from Canada? What was the carrier used? I asked to send a preprinted FedEx label with 2 day service but was told by one of the online pharmacies that they only use USPS because it can handle medication.

    Do you know if this is true?

    Thanks Robert!

  2. Hi Robert,
    Unfortunately, I am using a 3rd party that can use any carrier so I am worried they use a carrier that will cause issues at the customs later. On your 3 orders, were they all delivered by USPS?

    Should I ask the shipper to add my prescription with the shipment?

    Thanks!

  3. I used a mail forward place and I had to fill out my own customs form and listed personal health products. I think they came USPS. I didn’t use a prescription since they are not needed in Canada.

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