The Best and most common way to buy rapamycin (this is what most of us do, and what we really recommend because you want to be working with a doctor since this is a new application for this drug):
- Get a doctor’s prescription and purchase with a prescription. This is done by contacting one of the doctors who is prescribing rapamycin for aging. See our list of doctors prescribing rapamycin for aging.
- Note that Rapamycin for aging won’t be covered by insurance / healthcare programs (yet) so you’ll need to plan to pay for it yourself.
- When people can’t find a doctor in their area / country that will prescribe rapamycin, they are purchasing directly from online pharmacies that sell rapamycin without need for a prescription. See detailed descriptions on this process in the “Importing Rapamycin” post, and “Reliable Online Pharmacies” post.
- For people in Europe, another option is to purchase rapamycin in Turkey. It is inexpensive and we understand you do not need a prescription in Turkey for rapamycin (Rapamune / Sirolimus). People are buying in Turkey when they are on vacation there, buying from resellers via online services, or having friends who live or visit there mail or bring them the product. See this discussion - No Prescription Needed for Rapamycin Purchase in Turkey.
- Once you have a prescription, you can purchase either the brand name drug (Pfizer Rapamune) or the generic sirolimus. Brand name pricing seems to be about 300% to 500% higher than the generic medication. But, there seem to be increasing evidence that generic medications are riskier than the brand name products. See our article about testing your medications.
- You can use GoodRx coupon / service and you’ll pay around $3/mg for the generic rapamycin (or around $100 to $130 for a month’s supply.
- Pricing Examples: Do you have a go-to pharmacy?
- See Amazon Pharmacy Pricing for Rapamycin / Sirolimus (Generic)/ Rapamune (Pfizer Brand) - note, there seem to be good prices for Prime members, 90 day supply - $383 for 90 tablets ($4.25/1mg tablet) last time I checked:
Sirolimus
Rapamune - USA-Based compounding pharmacies are also a good place to buy rapamycin at lower costs. One of our members here buys his rapamycin from Tailor Made Compounding. Pricing quoted by one user in early 2022 was $2.13 per mg for 30 3mg caps. Prescription needed.
Important note on Compounding Pharmacies and a warning: see discussion on rapamycin from compounding pharmacy and bioavailability problems
In the USA the main brand of rapamycin is Pfizer’s Rapamune. The generic name for rapamycin is “sirolimus”. If you are thinking of buying some rapamycin be sure to read this article about all the different names for rapamycin. You may get rapamune if you have a prescription in the USA or you may choose the generic sirolimus due to its lower cost.
Because rapamycin for anti-aging is not covered by insurance, people are increasingly looking outside the country for the best value/lowest prices. The US has the highest drug prices in the world due to the combined effects of lack of competition and limited regulation.
Because of this we see increasing number of people who are looking towards other countries - from Canada and Mexico, to more distant places like India - to fill their prescriptions because the medications there are frequently a fraction of the cost that they would be in the USA. (Also of note, many India pharmacies don’t have requirements for a prescription, so people are also ordering directly from India pharmacies if they cannot get a local doctor to prescribe rapamycin for them).
One user suggested this was a way to buy Rapamycin in Miami (I’m not sure if its accurate - check if you’re interested):
Just get an airplane and fly to miami, latin independent pharmacies will give you the prescription and the pills. There are a lot of independent pharmacies in miami. Usually the owner is a doctor from latin america. This dr cant have a dr office, but because any dark law, they can prescribe patients in the pharmacy. So you go there and you can get metformin, rampamycin etc. Without a dr prescription. They can’t sell to you xanax or opiods, but any other drugs, easy and legal. Plus they are allow to give you 12 months prescription at the time. It is absolutely legal.
The cost savings you can get from foreign suppliers of medicine is as true for rapamycin (sirolimus) as it is for any other medications.
For example, the typical cost comparison for Rapamycin / Sirolimus looks something like this:
Rapamycin USA Prices:
Brand Name Product:
Pfizer Rapamune Average Street Price: $1300 for 30 x 1 mg tablets ($43 per 1 mg tablet)
GoodRx Discounted Pfizer Rapamune Price: $950 for 30 x 1 mg tablets ($31.60 per 1 mg tablet)
Rapamycin Generic:
Generic Sirolimus Typical Street Price: $480 for 30 x 1 mg tablets ($16 per 1 mg tablet)
GoodRx Discounted Generic Sirolimus Price: $110 for 30 x 1mg tablets ($3.6 per 1 mg tablet)
India Prices:
(you can check current prices yourself via Indiamart.com - search on “Zydus siromus” for example.
Current exchange rate India Rupees to US $ is around 75:1 based on this currency exchange calculator
Approximate India Pricing:
Zydus Siromus (Sirolimus) Price High: 1000 rupees for 6 tablets of 1 mg ($2 per 1 mg tablet
Zydus Siromus (Sirolimus) Price Low: 500 rupees for 6 tablets of 1 mg ($1 per 1 mg tablet)
Note: The India internet pharmacies have generally been amazingly good as far as delivering the medicines they promise. We’ve spoken to a many people who have ordered their medicines from India Pharmacies and everyone have had good experiences and always have received the medicine that they ordered. The only exceptions we are aware of being that a couple of times people’s orders have been held up or blocked at US customs.
Most people taking rapamycin for anti-aging purposes report taking somewhere between 5mg per week and 10mg per week (all in a single dose per week). As you can see, there is a significant savings. If you’re taking rapamycin for life extension at the 5mg dose, once per week level, you’ll need about 260 of the 1mg tablets a year, and if you’re at the 10mg per week level you’ll need about 520 of the 1mg tablets per year.
Rapamycin Yearly Cost Estimates:
The cost at the USA high end for 520 tablets, Rapamune brand, is $22,000+
The cost at the USA mid-range for 520 tablets, Sirolimus Generic, is $8,300+
The cost at the USA mid-range for 520 tablets, GoodRx Sirolimus Generic, is $1,800+
The cost at the India Low end for 520 tablets, Zydus Siromus, is around $520
We have heard from users in India who have had this to say:
“I live in India so getting it is no problem you just go up to the counter and ask for it. As for the cost it costs 6 dollars for 10 * 1mg tablets” (so, approximate cost of $312 for a year’s supply of 520 1mg tablets)"
Note: Some people are getting even lower prices by purchasing raw sirolimus powder (CAS ID 53123-88-9) from either laboratory reagent suppliers in the US (you need to work in a lab or biology or chemistry department of a university typically to get access to these, or know someone who does), or purchasing the raw sirolimus powder from vendors in China. We really discourage the later of these options as you have no legal recourse if the product is contaminated, you don’t know the quality (and its our belief that testing of any raw product from China is absolutely a requirement).
If you are looking at using cheaper medications from outside the USA, please review our section on testing your medications for purity, dosing and common contaminants.
And, for information on the cheapest approach to buying rapamycin, read this story: Importing Rapamycin - People’s Experiences.
Also related: List of Reliable Online Pharmacies for Buying Rapamycin, etc
