Invicorp

I've spoken to you both about this medication. It works for me.

For the benefit of others, like everything else, it seems to depend on where you live. My gp prescribes it on the NHS and I get it from pharmacy2u the online people. If you google it, you'll find different clinical commissioning groups have different rules for prescribing it.

Good luck.

Ulsterman

Thanks for your replies everybody.

I spoke to my GP Monday morning. The problem is one of lack of information and guidance according to her. It is the associated pharmacist that has advised against prescribing a repeat prescription. She said she would be happy to prescribe it to me if she received a letter of recommendation either from my consultant or my ED nurse.

I contacted my ED nurse and she said she couldn't recommend it because they hadn't used it, although they were trying to get it on their books as it were, and hoped to do that soon. She also added that my GP could prescribe it because it was on the BNF - ,British National Formulary, however my GP obviously doesn't want to take the responsibility of prescribing it, in fact she said so to me directly.

Thank you for the suggestion Lyn, I may book an appointment to see one of the more senior GPs in the surgery and suggest this to them or even just to get a second opinion. Not sure it's a cost thing though as the price online was around £50 per 5 ampoules, which didn't sound so bad to me?

Thanks

Mark

No I think maybe I didn't explain it very well. No need for you to panic Ulsterman. My understanding is that community pharmacies (your average Boots or Lloyds) somehow recharge the true cost of the meds prescribed on the NHS to the GP, dentist or local NHS. I think that is why hospital prescriptions have to be collected from the hospital dispensing chemist? But online pharmacies claim their money back a different way? There has been some kind of problem because the makers of invicorp refuse to sell it to NHS middlemen in the normal way so it costs the NHS more than it should, but online companies purchase the meds direct perhaps? That's my reading of it anyway.

Not an encyclopedia; just a researcher with insomnia and an irritating ability to remember useless facts. I am rubbish at pub quizzes, never know which actor was in which film and am rather useless at things like whether Manchester is east or west on the M62!

Lyn,

I agree with Ulsterman, your in-depth knowledge is amazing. I have done my own research after what you have said and I came across this link.

http://www.awmsg.org/awmsgonline/app/sitesearch?execution=e2s1

Cutting a long story short the 'All Wales Medicines Strategy Group' did an appraisal comparing Invicorp to caverject, including their own clinical trial. They came to the conclusion that Invicorp was equal in cost but had less occurrence of painful side effects that caverject and recommended invicorp as a treatment for ED in men where traditional treatments had failed. Then in July they overrode this recommendation with the following:-

"Aviptadil/phentolamine (Invicorp®) is not recommended for use within NHS Wales for the symptomatic treatment of erectile dysfunction in adult males due to neurogenic, vasculogenic, psychogenic, or mixed aetiology. The clinical and cost-effectiveness data presented in the submission were insufficient for AWMSG to recommend its use."

Also interesting was the following on an appraisal by the Doncaster Clinical Commissioning Group:-

http://medicinesmanagement.doncasterccg.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Invicorp-Prescribing-Guidance-V1.1-June-2016.doc

"Acquisition costs – whilst the basic acquisition cost of this preparation is similar to that of alprostadil injection there is a further unseen cost to the NHS. The unusual distribution of Invicorp, from the manufacturer, is via a non-standard mechanism leading to Community Pharmacy potentially obtaining it via a route that excludes the usual wholesaler processes. This can lead to an additional carriage charge being passed on to Community Pharmacy, which can then be reclaimed. This on-cost charge is not charged directly to the primary care prescribing budget but is however paid for by the NHS."

All this of course is what you are telling us Lyn, so I should just listen to you and not bother researching :-)

I will take both of your advice I think and book an appointment with another Doctor and see if they are happy to prescribe it me via pharmacy2u rather than the regular route.

Cheers

Mark

Edited by member 06 Sep 2017 at 19:57  | Reason: Not specified

Ha ha! I knew I had read about it but couldn't have told you where :-/ I think the Welsh meeting was the one where the company sent one representative but he didn't have any data with him.

Can I ask what price they charge privately? I note that it is offered to the nhs at around £48 for the 5 vials.

There is still an ongoing licensing problem with caverject which is causing supply problems. Invicorp is a different company.

At one time previously I had a problem sourcing it but did so within a month or so. Then all was fine with no issues at all until this summer. On the last occasion I heard via other users that the difficulty was that the manufacturer was opening a new factory or something of that sort so there would be possible supply issues pending the new production line becoming fully operational.

Either way it is disappointing not to be able to find the product and I was wondering if there is anything that I might do to strengthen a case for licensing, if that is the issue, or to source it elsewhere than the obvious high street chemists.

Yes, just what I was thinking too, although I heard from elsewhere that there may be supply problems with this drug too. But lets see.

PJN, there was no need to post in such aggressive style. If you had been a member for more than 1 day you would know that I do not mislead men who could benefit from treatments - completely the opposite. However, what I said about invicorp was factually correct - it is not NICE approved and so the CCGs / health trusts that have cleared it are each acting unilaterally. The all Wales commissioning group rejected it in June because the company sent a representative with no clinical data (the minutes of that meeting are a public document) but they did approve it a couple of months later. The point I was making (based on knowing many of the members on here and the struggles they have to get even the most basic ED treatments) is that if invicorp is not approved for GP (NHS) prescribing, men may have to go to online pharmacies. In the area where I live, the ED nurses can prescribe but GPs are not permitted to.

Hi Chris

I was looking into Invicorp but I noticed your comments about Cialis Daily. 

Do you manage to get hold of it ok?

my Urologist/Oncologist and. Psycho Sexual Therapist both suggested it. One for ED but also for urinary frequency. but the local CCG will not let my GP prescribe it. 

Thanks for your reply.

when I first started Radiotherapy they said I should take half a Syldenafil twice a week for maintenance reasons. On those nights I only get up for the loo twice instead of six times usually. 

Therefore I am hoping for two things from Cialis Daily. 

As you suggest I have ordered a month to see if it works. There is no point in going to war over this if they don’t work. 

I will let you know. 

On Thursday I have a follow up appointment with a Psycho Sexual Therapist Dr. I will go through all this with her but she will probably only write to my GP to ask her to prescribe. 

I will see how it goes Thursday. 

I would still complain to the CCG though.

Is the psycho-therapist your area’s version of an ED nurse?

Just had a follow up appointment with Psycho Sexual Therapist, Dr Valentine. I was expecting “Sorry there is nothing else we can do”. I nearly didn’t bother going. 

It was actually brilliant, she talked about all sorts of things to go through. 

Next time she wants to talk to me with my wife. I thought as this is NHS two appointments was probably all I would get. 

Feeling so much more positive. 

Hi Alan,

yes, I agree, Dr. Valentine is very good, she puts you at ease straight away and seems to really care about finding something that will work for you.