Just received my first vials of Lyumjev

I’m going to start using it tomorrow when I change out my Tandem reservoir. Hoping it will solve the problems I experience with Fiasp in this pump and maybe offer an incremental improvement over Fiasp in speed of adsorption and speed of activity decay.

It was commercially released to distributors a week ago and it took me a bit of hunting to find a pharmacy that could get it for me. I’m sure that situation is improving by the day.

My insurance PBM (ExpressScripts) has it on their site, but it’s not on my plan’s formulary and they won’t supply it at all - even with a doctor‘s reference. So I purchased it from Osco using Lilly’s $35 co-pay card. Otherwise I’d be SOL. List price is a little over $300/vial!

And the name is terrible. it’s pronounced loom-gev but you’d never get that from the spelling. Since it’s new I got a lot of “huh, what is that?’ when I talked with the pharmacies.

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Can’t wait to hear how it goes.

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Who makes it? And who names these things? Sounds like a Martian named it…

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Eli Lily and yeah it is a ridiculous name.

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Can anyone get the Lilly co-pay card, even if one has insurance? My insurance is Cigna which uses ExpressScripts, too, but like you, I doubt they will supply this new insulin. I’d like to try it in OmniPod although I’m on Loop so I’m not sure the Loop algorithm can support it at this timee. I look forward to hearing your experience with it!

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Some insulin brand names kind of make sense. Humalog = human and analog, I guess. Novorapid = novo (=new) and rapid. Fiasp = fast-acting insulin aspart (?). But lyumjev? No idea what that’s supposed to mean. Is it Russian?

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Anyone who is uninsured or with commercial insurance is eligible, but not if you’re on Medicare or other government plans. I was amazed how fast and easy it was. For me it was about a 10minute phone call with Lilly. 833-808-1234. I was expecting the usual nightmare dealing with a pharma company. It’s a flat $35 copay for a one-month supply as written on your script regardless of the quantity.

Unfortunately, ExpressScripts won’t honor the card so you’ll need to use someone else. I’ve used it for Humalog at Walgreens. I’m on a high-deductible PPO so even though ExpessScripts covers Humalog, until I meet my deductible it’s still less expensive to use the card.

As I read this post again, I can hardly believe I’m saying good things about an insulin manufacturer!

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Novolog has a similar savings card for a 30-day supply. It is $25 for a month, up to a maxium of $100 per month.

I’d like to try the new insulin, Lyumjev, too. I also use the OmniPod, but I bolus outside of the pod, so perhaps I could use the novolog in the pod and bolus with the Lyumjev? It’s a thought!

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Website gives the same for FIASP.

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Any update on how the Lyumjev performs / compares to Fiasp @Paytone?

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I think is valid if you have insurance that covers novolog.

Mine doesn’t. But I still get novolog discount using this. Those with no insurance can also use this.

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So far I’m impressed. I’ve only been using it for 5 days, so please take these as observations not proven over time.

  1. Most important to me, there was no loss of effectiveness when my insulin reservoir dropped below 50u (Tandem X2 pump). That was my biggest gripe with Fiasp. Only one reservoir so far so I’m not ready to declare victory just yet.

  2. Starts acting as fast as Fiasp. Should theoretically start a bit faster, but it isn’t noticeable to me.

  3. Ramps up to full activity faster than Fiasp and is out of my body sooner.

  4. No infusion site irritation or stinging blouses.
    .
    It’s still early days. As long as #1 holds true, it’s a winner for me

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No occlusion issues so far?

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Not so far (fingers crossed).

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I just experienced this. How long between between your reservoir fills? I think my last one lasted 6-7 days, so refill today I put in less.

Or do you think issues more due to bottom of reservoir, or both.

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I also use a reservoir 5-6 days. It seems to only happen at the bottom of the reservoir no matter what I tried. I tried filling the reservoir with less insulin, changing the type of infusion set, using extended boluses near the bottom of the reservoir, and a few others I don’t recall. If finally threw in the towel and diluted Fiasp 80/20 with Humalog and things were fine. But what a pain in the rear that is!

My theory, completely speculative, is that Fiasp is more viscous than Humalog or Novolog (due to additives) and that presents problems with Tandem’s unique pumping mechanism.

On the other hand, many (most?) people have no problem with Fiasp in the X2, so who knows.

Would be interested in hearing what happens when you put less in the reservoir.

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Will update…

With medtronic pump I had the 1.8 reservoir for 5xx models, and would run 3.5-4 days.
I just ran my first run with X2, filled to around 280 which lasted 6 days with today high all day and correction barely budged it. So just did a new fill to 180. Using novolog. I think medtronic recommended 3-4 days max in reservoir.

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@Paytone I don’t think your Tandem pump and its unique internal configuration has anything to do with Fiasp gumming up the works (occluding the plumbing) that some of us have experienced.

I’m currently using a MM Paradigm 522 pump (18 years old? … thanks Ruth :smiley: ) and I found that towards the end of day 3 the line to the infusion set occludes when pumping Fiasp insulin.

Perhaps the Fiasp formulation contains something that tends to dramatically increases its viscosity, especially when not kept refrigerated, much the same as platelet aggregation in blood?

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That’s an interesting theory. Your’s in the first report I’ve seen about the problems I’m experiencing in anything other than a Tandem pump.

If this this theory holds true @MM1, then your idea of using a reservoir for a shorter period ought to do the trick!

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Unfortunately I wasted this fill due to back to back infusion set failure. I used 6mm autosoft sets, and had similar issues previous week. The cannula bends under adhesive, not inserted under skin. The bg skyrockets, pull off set and find pool of insulin. Got next 2 to work ok, but then today 2 failures again, bg up to 300. So went back to Medtronic. Later in day I got new sets from tandem cust support, 9mm instead of 6mm. Will wait till medtronic pump insulin is used up, and then try the 9s. I miss my quick set inserter, hate the springy plastic XC and auto soft sets, but willing to try again.

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