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Help/Information needed from China (Wenzhou) for US citizen

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 10/4/2015 8:20 AM (GMT 0)
Hello,

I am currently in Wenzhou, China living here for work teaching English with a company. At first the company and I thought it would be easy or not a problem to get my medication but upon research with the corprate headquarters it seems I am not able to get remicade because it would be too expensive because it is an import because China does not have the medication. I saw in an old article from 2011 that they received Remicade while living in China. So I ask the great minds of the internet the following questions:

1. Is it possible to get remicade in china and if so what is the normal price.

2. What is the best way to go about getting Remicade in China?

3. Is there any equivalent to Remicade in China should Remicade not be an option?

I would very much like to stay living in China but it does not seem feasible currently. Any and all information would be greatly appreciated as I am unaware of exactly how the medical world of China works.

Posted 10/4/2015 12:01 PM (GMT 0)
Maybe it would help to give us your UC and UC med history so we don't recommend something you know doesn't work anyway. There is another recent thread going here from China where they say that other than TCM the only meds available to them are prednisone and mesalamines. Check out the thread from member BAOLUO.
Posted 10/4/2015 12:10 PM (GMT 0)
Here is a thread from another site.

Even names some doc's.

Old Mike

https://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=71491

looks like you can get it for crohns,not sure about UC.

http://xian-janssen.com.cn/en/news/434

Posted 10/4/2015 12:13 PM (GMT 0)
It seems that availability of remicade isn't that great in that area. Saw an article saying 1/3 of formulary lists include it. There were some articles on jansen's website about availability in various provinces (not sure which you're in) in china. Here's the articles I found:

xian-janssen.com.cn/en/news/434

xian-janssen.com.cn/en/news/336

You might have to reach out to jansen itself, or other pharmaceutical distributors in your area.
Posted 10/4/2015 7:28 PM (GMT 0)
Would your company reimburse you for traveling to a larger city, maybe even outside China to get the drug. Is it available in Hong Kong? Shanghai? Etc... I know it would involve travel but your health comes first. Being that they told you it would be available I think they have a responsibility to help you get it.
Posted 10/6/2015 12:23 AM (GMT 0)
You could also try contacting www.remistart.com

At least you might be able to get n touch with someone that can direct you further on what to do, how to get approved, how to get the drug where you are, how to offset the cost possibly etc etc.

Might be worth a try.
Posted 10/9/2015 4:00 AM (GMT 0)
Hi,

My name is Baoluo, and I live in Zhanjiang city, Guangdong province.
Now unless Wenzhou is considerably more developed or larger than my city,
I think it highly unlikely that you will be able to buy remicade. As other have suggested you may have to travel to Hong Kong, there I am almost 100% sure it will be available as the hospital system is based upon U.K. system and as such a much wider variety of therapies will be available.
In the mainland you could try somewhere like Shanghai or maybe Guangzhou, but I am not sure. Imported drugs are horribly expensive wherever you buy them in the mainland.
In my city only mesalazine and prednisone are available, or of course TCM.

Get back to me here or email if you want to talk. :-)
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