Buying ilet Bionics outside US

Community
1

I really want to buy ilet bionics but i see that it is not available to some countries outside US. Would it be ok if I visit a doctor in the US so that he can prescribe it for me? Then i can buy it and take it with me to my own country (South Afrca). If I can do that, will i get supplies/consumables as and when i order them? Please assist. I really need an answer

2

It is possible you could get the pump in the US and bring it back with you.

But I think the infusion sets are proprietary, meaning no other pump infusion sets would work.

So you would need to have a means of getting infusion sets shipped to you regularly.

Most likely, the iLet company won’t ship them to a country for which the pump has not been approved. So you need to have some way of getting them shipped to you consistently.

There might be a way of buying them online and having them shipped to South Africa, but that might be challenging to arrange.

Or having some person here do that for you. But again, this is challenging. The other person would also need a prescription.

Or finding a shady website that does it without a prescription.

Short answer:

  • Is it possible? “Perhaps.”

  • Is it easy and practical and uncomplicated to do this? “No”

3

I know that I have had pump supplies shipped to be from Medtronic and Tandem while I was in Europe for an extended time. I don’t see why they would not ship to Africa.
The issue is that you would need to go to the USA to get it and be trained. It’s unlikely they would just ship it out initially.
But replacement pumps ship anywhere in the world.
I am curious why you chose the ILet pump though since it is not widely used it will be more difficult to get supplies in a pinch.
Is there something about it that you think is better than the other options?

4

That is not the same situation, because both Tandem and Medtronic are approved in Europe.

I am not sure if iLet is approved in South Africa, but the original post seemed to think it was not available.

So it just depends on if the pump is approved in the other country.

Since infusion sets require a prescription in the U.S., if a pump is not approved in another country, a U.S. pump company will not ship the infusion sets to that country.

Try this. Call any pump company in the U.S. - Medtronic, Insulet, Tandem - it does not matter.

And ask them - will you ship your infusion sets or pods to a country for which your pump is not approved?

What do you think they will say?

So then it would come down to finding a source that is willing to ship. Which is what I put in my post above.