How to Get Corlanor at a Lower Price
high drug prices
Any way you come at it, heart failure medication is a stressful topic. Whether you’re looking for information on a specific drug or looking for ways to buy the drug at a cheaper price, the reason behind your research is rarely an exciting one.
Americans already pay exorbitant amounts for their prescription medications and pharmaceutical companies are coming up with new drugs every year.
One of the most popular medications for chronic heart disease is called Corlanor (also known as Coralan internationally). It’s a newer drug — approved in 2015 — that can be used with or without a pacemaker.
If your doctor has prescribed Corlanor, but you’re having trouble wrapping your mind around the hefty retail price, NorthWestPharmacy.com can help.
Shopping through an Canada pharmacy online, like NorthWestPharmacy.com, can help you save hundreds of dollars on your medication. In the case of Corlanor, you can save up to 92% per pill.
Here are the details about the cost of Corlanor, why it’s so expensive in the U.S., how it works, and why it’s so helpful for people with pacemakers.
How Much Does Corlanor Cost?
At NorthWestPharmacy.com, you can purchase a 56-pill supply of brand name Corlanor starting at about $100.00, or about $1.79 per pill.
NorthWestPharmacy.com has access to a generic version of Corlanor as well. You can also purchase a 112-pill supply of generic ivabradine for $73.00, or about $0.65 per pill.
By comparison, you’ll experience some sticker shock when shopping for Corlanor in the United States. A 60-pill supply of Corlanor costs about $500.00 (about $8.33 per pill). Of course, this price varies, depending on where you get it and if you have any coupons. The price could go as high as $525.00 ($8.75 per pill) or as low as $475.00 ($7.92 per pill).
At this time, there is no generic available in the United States, which means that patients are forced to pay $500.00 for their medication — unless they know about online Canadian pharmacies, of course.
Corlanor can come in both tablet form, as well as a liquid for people who are struggling to swallow. This method can be very helpful for children, in addition to the elderly, as swallowing becomes more difficult with age. If swallowing is an issue for you, be sure to ask your physician about liquid Corlanor.
In considering the per-dose cost of Corlanor, remember that patients need two doses per day. A 56-pill supply will last 28 days.
Why Is Corlanor So Expensive?
Many factors play a role in the high cost of prescription drugs in the U.S, including the rarity of the disease the drug treats, how many competitors it has, and just how groundbreaking it is. Another significant factor in the price of Corlanor is the lack of any government price controls over it or any other drug in the United States.
Other countries set the maximum price a pharmaceutical company can charge in the marketplace for just about every single drug sold within their borders but the United States does not and instead leaves consumers at the mercy of what Big Pharma wants to charge.
It is, for example, a well-known fact that Canada’s drugs from internet pharmacies are much cheaper due to government price controls.
What Does Corlanor Do?
Corlanor is a medication used to treat chronic heart failure. It’s approved for use in people as young as six months old (at an age so young, the diagnosis is typically dilated cardiomyopathy [DCM]).
Ivabradine is by no means a “cure,” as there is no technical cure for chronic heart failure. The only way to solve this problem is to get a heart transplant — and even then, it’s not a foolproof resolution.
Organ transplants are life-saving, but there is always a shortage of necessary organs for the people waiting on the transplant list. Given the complexities of organ transplants, there are still many issues to consider:
- the physical logistics of what it takes to receive a transplanted organ
- the checks that must be done to make sure the recipient is a good match for the organ
- the condition of every other person on the transplant list (more severe conditions get priority)
Some people wait years for an organ transplant, and unfortunately, some never get one at all.
People with chronic heart failure may live for quite some time without hope for a heart transplant. Getting a spot on the list at all is difficult, and once you’re on it, there’s no telling how long it will take for you to make it to the top of the list.
The purpose of Corlanor is to take some of the physical burdens off of the heart muscle so that it doesn’t have to work so hard. If the heart can rest a bit, which should help prolong its ability to function while the patient waits for a match on the transplant list.
The main goal of Corlanor — aside from alleviating some of the burdens from the heart — is to keep patients out of the hospital.
As the heart progressively gets more damaged, the lungs will follow along the same path. If the lungs aren’t getting enough blood, they aren’t getting enough oxygen, which means they have to work harder as well.
Typically, this means that patients end up in the hospital because they’re short of breath. Not only is this risky for the patients, who will be at greater risk for infection by staying in the hospital, but the medical bills will add up very quickly.
As if the failure of one major organ wasn’t enough, two make the transplant prospects even more complicated.
Corlanor Side Effects
Of course, every medication comes with a degree of risk versus reward. There are side effects associated with Corlanor that physicians typically inform their patients of when they prescribe it. But again, the risk of not taking the medication may be deemed greater than the risk of side effects from taking it.
Common side effects of Corlanor include:
- Slow heart rate (bradycardia)
- High (or increased) blood pressure (hypertension)
- Atrial fibrillation (A-fib)
- Temporary changes in vision, such as flashes of light, halos, or colors
- Eye sensitivity to light
Corlanor has also had reported adverse reactions in its use post-approval. These reactions include:
- Sudden loss of consciousness due to a drop in blood pressure (syncope)
- Low blood pressure (hypotension)
- Torsade de pointes (literally translated as a twisting of points, this is a rare type of polymorphic ventricular tachycardia that refers to the lower two chambers of the heart beating faster than the upper chambers)
- A type of arrhythmia known as ventricular fibrillation (V-fib)
- A fast heartbeat, known as ventricular tachycardia (VT)
- Swelling under the skin (angioedema)
- Reddening of the skin (erythema)
- Skin rash
- Itchy skin due to dryness (pruritus, very common among older adults)
- Hives (urticaria)
- Vertigo
- Double vision (Diplopia)
- Other forms of visual impairment
These adverse reactions have not been studied at length but have been reported by patients. If you’re experiencing any of them, speak with your prescribing physician.
How Does Corlanor Work?
The main purpose of ivabradine is to slow the heart muscle down. When the body isn’t getting enough oxygenated blood — particularly the lungs — the heart’s instinct is to pump harder.
When the heart pumps harder, the muscle gets more tired, and the body isn’t receiving the benefits of better blood flow. It’s essentially working harder but achieving the same result.
This typically leads to swelling in the legs, weight gain as the body retains fluid, trouble breathing, and sometimes fluid in the lungs, which causes people to cough.
By slowing the heart down, these symptoms may not necessarily go away, but the heart will still get some much-needed rest.
Ivabradine Mechanism of Action
Ivabradine’s unique mechanism of action is blocking the heart’s natural pacemaker — not the device that is sometimes placed in patients with heart disease, but the natural pathways in the heart that speed up or slow down as the body deems necessary.
When the body is struggling to get enough oxygenated blood to the lungs and outer extremities, the brain tells the heart to pump harder to move the blood around. Of course, this is the opposite of what the heart should be doing, given its physically weakened state.
Ivabradine “blocks the channel responsible for the cardiac pacemaker current, I(f), which regulates heart rate.” Doing so allows the heart muscle to pace itself (no pun intended) so that it doesn’t become overtaxed and tire out more quickly.
Corlanor is sometimes prescribed in conjunction with a pacemaker. If the patient is already using a pacemaker, ivabradine integrates with the device seamlessly.
Pacemakers rely on something called If-channels, named after the natural currents in the heart (oddly enough, they’re also known as “funny currents”). If-channels are the electrical currents that pacemakers use to set the pace of the patient’s heart. This mechanism is critical and can be adjusted to each patient.
What makes ivabradine so effective in this application is its binding property. Ivabradine binds to the If-channels to help send the signal to the heart to slow down. This allows the heart to remain at a steady pace to prevent it from kicking into overdrive.
Essentially, in this case, the pacemaker is the main tool to control heart rate, but the ivabradine supports the device and can also serve as a backup. If the pacemaker encounters any unforeseen issues, ivabradine is in the body to work with the heart’s natural pacemaker to keep the patient safer until the pacemaker can be adjusted.
How to Save Money on Corlanor
The stress associated with a diagnosis like chronic heart failure is more than enough. Worrying about the cost of the life-saving medication you require is a level of stress you shouldn’t need to deal with.
If your doctor prescribed Corlanor, but you aren’t sure how you could possibly afford it, look no further than NorthWestPharmacy.com and its lowest price guarantee.
NorthWestPharmacy.com is an international and online Canadian drugstore that has been serving customers in the United States for many years now. The company was founded through a deep concern for the rising cost of prescription drugs.
A Reliable Online Canadian Pharmacy
Throughout the company’s history, it’s grown to be the most reviewed and independently five-star rated online pharmacy in the world. We have over 400,000 online reviews through trusted third-party websites like Trustpilot, Norton, and Shopper Approved. We maintain a consistent 4.8/5 star rating across the board.
Another aspect of business that we take great pride in is our commitment to safety. We understand that this is a concern for many Americans who are purchasing medication through an online Canadian pharmacy for the first time but rest assured that we take this matter very seriously.
We employ standards set by the Canadian International Pharmacy Association (CIPA) and the International Pharmacy Association of British Columbia (IPABC). Doing so gives us a level of oversight and provides guidelines that keep our customers safe.
For example, one of these requirements is regarding access to pharmacists. Their guidelines state that each prescription must be checked by a pharmacist, and that a pharmacist must be available to the customer for any questions they may have.
Additionally, the pharmacist will check the medication against the patient’s health history and current medication list to ensure that there are no contraindications that may lead to complications. Of course, this necessitates a patient file for every customer we have.
Unparalleled Customer Service
Finally, we recognize the importance of stellar customer service. Our call center — staffed by knowledgeable customer service representatives — is open seven days a week. They can answer your questions, walk you through the ordering process, or connect you to the on-call pharmacist.
Please don’t hesitate to call us at 1-866-539-5330. If you prefer, you can email us — we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
We look forward to saving you money!