Ice Pack leaked Over Everything During Shipping - Pens Ok?

Casey Warner

Casey Warner

Member Since 2018
I just spent 10 minutes searching to see if anyone else had this problem, but couldn't find anything so I decided to ask.

I just received my first order of a 5 pack box of Lantus Solostar pens from Marks. The zip lock bag that the Lantus box was in was not sealed and the ice pack melted and got everything wet. It seems that the Lantus box and paper instructions soaked up most of it. The pens weren't really wet at all, they may have a slight coating of something (from the inside ice pack?). I opened the caps and everything seems fine and the liquid is clear. I don't think anything got into the pens. Now I wonder if I should've opened the caps? Was that bad? :( I felt the pens needed to be checked in case anything leaked inside of them, contaminating the insulin. I'm kind of irritated now, because they (Marks) should have sealed the zip lock bag.

Any advice or opinions? I'm not able to call Marks right now, maybe later today. Although I could email them.
 
They should be fine, but when you get a chance, I'd definitely tell them about it so they can be more careful!!

The pens are "vacuum sealed" so nothing should be able to get into them...open caps or not
 
Ok... So what about the fact that I opened the caps on the pens? Is this going to reduce their shelf life? I was hoping the pack would last six months or more.

I actually did a test on a used pen. I poured water on it, then dried it off to see if anything could get inside. Water got under the cap. So if the ice pack did leak, which I think it did, it could have contaminated the silicone. Although, I'm strongly inclined to think nothing got under the cap, based on what I saw. The Lantus box soaked up most everything to the point that it's coming apart at one end - the paper is kind of disintegrating from being so wet. The folded instructions weren't all that wet.

I did email them to let them know about this. I can't believe this happened on my first order, but it is clearly their fault. All they had to do was seal the bag. Ugh!
 
Casey Warner said:
Ok... So what about the fact that I opened the caps on the pens? Is this going to reduce their shelf life?
Click to expand...
The cap and the whole pen plastic "housing" are pretty much irrelevant. Only the Lantus cartridge itself matters (the small vial that is housed in the plastic encasement). It is sealed. It only begins it's "countdown" after you insert a syringe into the gasket. All of the pens should be OK. It was a good idea to write to Mark's and voice your concerns. Who knows, maybe they'll send you another box!
 
Thanks. I was having a hard time finding info about the pens. I thought once the cap was removed, it was considered opened, which causes degradation. That's basically the information I've gotten from reading through this forum.
 
Rub the end of the pen where you insert the needle with alcohol to clean it......pens expire according to the date on them and as noted above shelf life starts once initially used. Often pens and many other things can go far beyond their shelf life.
 
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