How to Help Your Patients Find Kerendia in Stock: A Provider's Guide

You've made the clinical decision to start a patient on Kerendia (Finerenone) — but now they're calling back saying their pharmacy doesn't have it. This scenario is increasingly common as Kerendia prescribing expands across nephrology, cardiology, and primary care practices.

This guide provides practical, actionable steps to help your patients navigate Kerendia access in 2026, along with workflow recommendations to minimize disruptions to your practice.

Current Availability of Kerendia

Kerendia is not in a formal drug shortage. Bayer Healthcare continues to manufacture and distribute Finerenone tablets (10 mg and 20 mg) without reported supply chain disruptions. The medication is not listed on the FDA Drug Shortage database.

The access challenge is a pharmacy stocking issue, not a supply issue. As a high-cost ($670–$950/month), single-source brand-name drug, many retail pharmacies do not maintain Kerendia in their standard inventory. This is particularly true at chain pharmacy locations in areas with lower specialty prescribing volume.

Why Patients Can't Find Kerendia

Understanding the barriers helps you address them proactively with patients:

• Low pharmacy stocking rates: Kerendia is a newer specialty medication. Many pharmacies stock based on prescription volume, and Kerendia hasn't reached critical mass at most retail locations.
• Prior authorization delays: Most commercial and Medicare Part D plans require PA. The average turnaround is 3–7 business days, during which the patient has no medication.
• Cost shock: Patients who learn the cash price ($670–$950) may abandon the prescription before exploring savings options.
• Single-source product: With no generic Finerenone available (patent expiry ~2029), there's no alternative manufacturer to fill supply gaps at the pharmacy level.

What Providers Can Do: 5 Actionable Steps

Step 1: Direct Patients to Medfinder

Medfinder for Providers is a free tool that helps locate pharmacies with specific medications in stock. You or your staff can search for Kerendia availability by location and share results with patients, or direct patients to use medfinder.com themselves.

Consider adding Medfinder to your new prescription workflow — when sending a Kerendia prescription, include a note or handout directing the patient to check availability first.

Step 2: Build Specialty Pharmacy Relationships

Specialty pharmacies are significantly more likely to stock Kerendia than retail chains. Identify one or two specialty pharmacies in your area (or nationally, for mail-order) and establish them as preferred destinations for Kerendia prescriptions.

Benefits of specialty pharmacies:

• Routinely stock high-cost specialty medications
• Often have dedicated teams for insurance navigation and PA processing
• Many offer home delivery
• Higher fill rates for specialty drugs

Step 3: Streamline Prior Authorization

Prior authorization is the most common delay in Kerendia access. Prepare your practice by having the following readily available in the patient chart:

• Diagnosis codes: E11.22 (Type 2 diabetes with diabetic chronic kidney disease)
• Recent labs: eGFR, UACR, serum potassium, HbA1c
• Documentation of maximally tolerated ACEi or ARB use
• Clinical rationale for Kerendia over alternatives

Many EHR systems support electronic prior authorization (ePA), which can reduce turnaround from days to hours. If your practice isn't using ePA for Kerendia, this is worth implementing.

Step 4: Connect Patients With Financial Assistance

Proactively addressing cost prevents prescription abandonment. Key programs include:

• Bayer Kerendia Savings Card: Commercially insured patients may pay $0 copay (not valid for government insurance).
• Bayer Patient Assistance Program: Free medication for qualifying uninsured/underinsured patients.
• Medicare Extra Help: Eligible patients may pay $10 or less monthly.
• Third-party discount cards: SingleCare and similar services may reduce cash price to approximately $670/month.

Have your care coordinators or social workers connect patients with these programs at the time of prescribing, not after they encounter a cost barrier. For details to share with patients, see How to Save Money on Kerendia.

Step 5: Provide Samples or Bridge Prescriptions

If there will be a gap between prescribing and the patient obtaining Kerendia — due to PA processing or pharmacy ordering — consider providing starter samples (available through Bayer) or a bridge prescription for the starting dose. This ensures the patient doesn't go without treatment during the access process.

When to Consider Alternatives

If a patient truly cannot access or afford Kerendia despite the above steps, alternatives exist:

• Spironolactone: Steroidal MRA, widely available generic ($4–$20/month). More side effects but significantly cheaper.
• Eplerenone: More selective steroidal MRA, generic available ($15–$60/month). Better tolerated than Spironolactone.
• SGLT2 inhibitors: Dapagliflozin (Farxiga) and Empagliflozin (Jardiance) provide complementary kidney/heart protection through a different mechanism. Many patients benefit from both classes.

For a patient-facing comparison, refer them to Alternatives to Kerendia.

Workflow Tips for Your Practice

Incorporating the following into your practice workflow can reduce Kerendia access issues:

• Pre-prescribing checklist: Before sending the prescription, verify insurance coverage, initiate PA if needed, and discuss cost/savings programs with the patient.
• Preferred pharmacy list: Maintain a short list of specialty pharmacies that reliably stock Kerendia. Share this with patients at the point of prescribing.
• Follow-up within 1 week: Check in with patients within 7 days of prescribing to confirm they've obtained the medication and started treatment.
• Lab coordination: Schedule baseline potassium and eGFR checks before the prescription is sent, so results are available for PA documentation.

Final Thoughts

Kerendia access is a solvable problem, but it requires proactive steps from the prescribing team. By connecting patients with the right pharmacies, streamlining prior authorization, and addressing cost barriers upfront, you can significantly reduce the time between clinical decision and treatment initiation.

Use Medfinder for Providers as part of your workflow, and direct patients to the platform whenever they report difficulty finding Kerendia. For a broader overview of the current supply landscape, see our clinical briefing: Kerendia Shortage: What Providers Need to Know in 2026.