Open insulin can be stored at up to 37 C — study

GENEVA, Switzerland, February 5 ------ Opened insulin can be stored for four weeks in warm conditions without losing efficacy, a study showed Wednesday, giving hope to diabetics in hot countries without access to refrigerators. The research by the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and the University of Geneva showed that a vial of insulin could be stored for four weeks after opening at temperatures fluctuating between 25 and 37 degrees Celsius (77 and 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

The study was published in the PLOS One medical journal. “The current pharmaceutical protocol requires insulin vials to be stored between 2 C and 8 C until opened, after which most human insulin can be stored at 25 C for four weeks,” said Philippa Boulle, a non-communicable diseases advisor at MSF. “This is obviously an issue in refugee camps in temperatures hotter than this, where families don’t have refrigerators.”

In some poorer regions of the world with temperatures well above 25 C, diabetics without home refrigerators have to go to the hospital for their injections, sometimes several times a day. For people living with diabetes, access to treatment, including insulin, is critical to their survival. Diabetes is a chronic, metabolic disease characterized by elevated blood sugar levels, which leads over time to serious damage to the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys, and nerves.

The most common is type 2 diabetes, usually in adults, which occurs when the body becomes resistant to insulin or doesn’t make enough insulin. Type 1 diabetes is a chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin by itself.

Source: inquirer.net