Further to a fairly recent question on the necessity for the stockpiling of
insulin I was involved in helping with some research into insulin and Y2k
during last summer.
We were advised that:
The shelf life of insulin from date of manufacture = 2 - 3 years
Insulin should be stored at temperatures 2 - 8 Degrees C
The shelf life out of fridge = 1 month
The conclusions I came to were that:
in view of:
a) the in-frig shelf life
b) the out-of-frig shelf life
c) the relatively wide storage temp
stockpiling insulin against the event of non manufacture is easy but
stockpiling against power cuts is probably a waste of time UNLESS you live
in a cold clime or have alternative means of refrigeration if you anticipate
longer than a month's power cuts.
In view of the relatively high storage temperature would there be a
possibility of storing insulin outside during a UK winter if necessary?
On current knowledge of progress in the power industries in the UK *and*
also their capacity for resilience I would'nt anticipate no electricity for
a month but everyone has to make their own minds up as 1999 progresses. It
would seem sensible for all insulin users to have additional supplies
against manufacturing problems. We could only locate 3 companies
manufacturing insulin worldwide and one of those is small. One company
apparently has 70-75% of the market (we think, but I stress that we have had
a lot of difficulty in obtaining statements from the suppliers even about
the share of the market and the number of manufacturing sites they have).
But if you do stockpile but cannot store correctly because of lack of frig
power or no alternative that stock only has a life of one month.
Any comments on the above would be welcome.
There are other drugs, of course, which fall into this critical necessity
category which will be affected differently because of different storage
temperatures and shelf lives, would anyone care to add to the list so that
research can be done into the situation?
Regards and Happy New to all especially those on call.
Graham
Graham P P Ride, Cybermetrix Ltd. CCP 2000 Ltd.
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