Insulin expiry date (especially humalog)

[EllieM]

I've just been through the insulin in my fridge looking at expiry dates, and I can't find them on the humalog cartridges but can on the lantus ones.

Why is this a problem? Well, my pharmacy only give me enough insulin for one month a time and this means they often give me insulin in generic white cardboard boxes rather than in the original 5 vial manufacturer boxes, which include expiry dates on the box.

Now my surgery have specified the amount of lantus I need in the script, but not the humalog.... The pharmacy seems to think this means I need 4 3 ml cartridges a month, whereas I probably only use 3 (usually, if I decide to eat higher carb or get sick it could go up) and I am starting to build up a stock of humalog. My oldest supply was issued at the end of February, but doesn't have a date because it is in the anonymous box. The next oldest is at the beginning of April, and is November 2022. The other two are August of 2023.

So, do I assume the stuff in the undated box is OK? (I'm going to ring the chemist on Monday and check that they don't hand out insulin that has less than 6 months before expiry.)

So some questions
1) Could someone on humalog check if they can find an expiry date on a cartridge. Even with reading glasses, my vision isn't as good as it used to be and I may be missing something obvious.
2) Curiosity really. How old is the insulin that your pharmacies/chemists hand out?

Looks like my humalog is made in Europe, so it's coming a long way....

 

[Rachox]

I remember from my nursing days that each cartridge has an expiry date aswell as the box. Sometimes the date wasn’t obvious on the cartridge but here’s an image of Humalog where I have circled where the expiry date should be.

 

[EllieM]

I remember from my nursing days that each cartridge has an expiry date aswell as the box. Sometimes the date wasn’t obvious on the cartridge but here’s an image of Humalog where I have circled where the expiry date should be.View attachment 54724

That is brilliant. I needed reading glasses and a magnifying glass to find it, and I would never had done so without your picture.
11 2022
So I can use it, it's the same batch as the next lot.

 

[Antje77]

I needed reading glasses and a magnifying glass to find it,

Use your phone!

 

[Gertrudlanka]

I read your question correctly and I told it to my elder brother because they have knowledge about Insulin
and I have shared it with my friends. As soon as I get the best answer, I will tell you here

 

[NicoleC1971]

I've just been through the insulin in my fridge looking at expiry dates, and I can't find them on the humalog cartridges but can on the lantus ones.

Why is this a problem? Well, my pharmacy only give me enough insulin for one month a time and this means they often give me insulin in generic white cardboard boxes rather than in the original 5 vial manufacturer boxes, which include expiry dates on the box.

Now my surgery have specified the amount of lantus I need in the script, but not the humalog.... The pharmacy seems to think this means I need 4 3 ml cartridges a month, whereas I probably only use 3 (usually, if I decide to eat higher carb or get sick it could go up) and I am starting to build up a stock of humalog. My oldest supply was issued at the end of February, but doesn't have a date because it is in the anonymous box. The next oldest is at the beginning of April, and is November 2022. The other two are August of 2023.

So, do I assume the stuff in the undated box is OK? (I'm going to ring the chemist on Monday and check that they don't hand out insulin that has less than 6 months before expiry.)

So some questions
1) Could someone on humalog check if they can find an expiry date on a cartridge. Even with reading glasses, my vision isn't as good as it used to be and I may be missing something obvious.
2) Curiosity really. How old is the insulin that your pharmacies/chemists hand out?

Looks like my humalog is made in Europe, so it's coming a long way....

My humalog 10ml vial as a date on the side of it which is March 24. I would assume they'd allow a similiar 'lead time' for cartridges.
There's no chance I won't be using that in good time but the emergency back up cartridges may well be out of date. Thanks for the question.

 

[Antje77]

I read your question correctly and I told it to my elder brother because they have knowledge about Insulin
and I have shared it with my friends. As soon as I get the best answer, I will tell you here

That's very friendly, but she already found the answer!
You'll find it if you read through the thread.

 

[EllieM]

My humalog 10ml vial as a date on the side of it which is March 24. I would assume they'd allow a similiar 'lead time' for cartridges.
There's no chance I won't be using that in good time but the emergency back up cartridges may well be out of date. Thanks for the question.

Interesting, is my pharmacy giving relatively me old insulin?
Not really a problem to only have 6 months before expiry given I'm using it every day, but if it was an emergency supply because I used a pump it definitely wouldn't be so good. Mind you, I assume you could use disposable syringes on your 10ml vials in an emergency....
In the days before I came to NZ I just used to ask for insulin when I was getting low, a few times a year, and they'd hand me out multiple cases of 5 x 3ml cartridges.