3 wk. delay Insulin from Canadian Pharmacies

Status
Not open for further replies.
H

Heinz R.

Member
I had posted this question a few days ago on the Insulin from Canadian Pharmacies topic but noone has responded thus far. I think that judging from the posting dates and frequency maybe it doesn't get a lot of hits. So, I decided that perhaps the best place for the question is the Main Forum because it probably gets a lot more play and the question really relates to insulin in general, rather than to Canadian Pharmacies. If that was the wrong thing to do please forgive me and let me know .

We bought a set of five 3 mL cartridges of Glargine through a Canadian Pharmacy. The actual source is through a pharmacy in Britain and the shipping time from the UK, using normal first class mail, has now approached about two weeks, and it may be another half week before it actually gets to us. So, the glargine will have spent possibly three weeks unopened and unrefrigerated.
My question is has that unrefrigerated period damaged it to the point of no longer being usable? And if not, to what extent has that prolonged unrefrigerated unopened exposure reduced the length of time that the glargine can now be used if we begin refrigerating it immediately upon receipt?
I read the "Instructions for the Use, etc., " post on Lantus but the situation above was not discussed.
A related and perhaps even more important question is, is there a way of testing insulin to determine whether it is useable?
Beauregard (and his mom and I) would appreciate your views.
Many thanks,
Heinz R.
 
All the manufacture says it the Lantus is good for 28 days at room temperate. They also say one opened it is also good for 28 days whether refrigerated or not. Many users report that it works well after 28 days opened when refrigerated.
The insulin should be fine after you get it. However, no one knows how long the insulin will continue to be good.
 
As far as I know, there isn't a way to test Lantus for potency. You can visually inspect a cartridge for what we refer to as "floaties" -- microcrystals. If these have formed, then your insulin is damaged. The only way to tell if it's good is to use it. If you're getting wonky numbers. then the insulin is damaged. Usually, with insulin that's sent from a Canadian source, the packaging is pretty good. I'd be more concerned about the temperature if it were the middle of summer and it got hot. There's always the danger of freezing but you would definitely see floaties if that happened.
 
Thanks to both of you for that very useful information.
The shipment actually arrived yesterday, having spent 16 days in transit. The insulin was packed with little cold packs that probably kept the insulin sufficiently cold for a few days during shipment. In any event, the insulin was clear without any floaties and we used it yesterday eve and this AM.
On the subject of freezing, we actually ran into this situation about 2 weeks ago when a portion of the insulin in the vial froze. That's what actually triggered a mini-emergency because we assumed that even the still liquid part of the frozen insulin was no longer usable. A kindly neighbor whose diabetic cat uses the same insulin as ours has been sharing their insulin with us for the past couple of weeks.
We don't know why the insulin froze because the refrigerator was not set below freezing but we were not aware then that insulin probably freezes at a higher temperature than water. Is it true that the once frozen insulin is no longer usable even after it has been remelted?
Thanks again.
Heinz R.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top