Drug pricing and typical schedule: IVF

hopeful247

I was so excited when we decided to try IVF. We were even "ok"with the procedure cost until the drug costs hit. Double ouch! I'm trying to research the costs of medication while I wait for my "IVF class". Apparently, they do not give out information regarding the drugs until you attend the class though my RE has already told me the drugs he will use. Will you share your schedule? These are my "drugs" but I don't know how many days/ doses that are typical. Trying to collect the potential cost burden to ease my fears...  Thanks so much!

Ganirelix-- is this typically 1-2 doses?

Gonal F - Think this is a 7-9 day dose?

Menopur ?

HCG ?

I'm 38 TTC 2+ years,  2 failed IUI, unexplained infertility.

Mrs.McIrish

Ganirelix is a prefilled syringe that is taken to prevent premature ovulation. How many days you use it will depend on how respond to stims. Since you are unexplained, I think you will probably use 4-5 syringes (1/day)

Gonal F- your stim period is probably 8-10 days but the cost will be dependent on the dose. The higher the dose, the most it will cost.

Menopur-  expect to use it for about 8-10 days (it is an FSH/LH stim)

HCG- that is your trigger. You will have one dose about 36 hrs prior to ER.

The total cost really varies person to person depending on diagnosis. The range is really big so you could pay $3K versus someone else paying $8K.  I was on massive doses for 1 & 2 and my drug cost was about $8K per cycle.

hopeful247

Thank you for your reply. 2 drug companies were given as Prosperity and Kerr speciality. I am amazed that even with the "discount prices" these are so expensive.

BootsOrHearts

We did Femara this cycle and it was covered by insurance, I think because it's a breast cancer drug that is being prescribed off label for fertility purposes.

Edit -I forgot, one cycle we planned to do clomid + HCG trigger and both together were like $500, not covered. Not sure how much the HCG was of those two, but yeah, not cheap!