Keeping Interferon refrigerated

[little_oblivion]

Hi, I've recently started taking Peginterferon alfa-2a, and I keep it in my fridge because that's what the instructions say. I'm going to visit my girlfriend in Scotland a week tomorrow. My journey is going to take two days, so I'll leave home on Saturday morning, stay in a hotel halfway on Saturday night and get to my girlfriend's flat on Sunday afternoon. When I get there I can keep my interferon in her fridge until I use it the following Thursday (because that's my day when I take it). This means my interferon will be out of the fridge for about 30 hours.

So is it safe for my interferon to be unrefrigerated for this amount of time, and if not, can someone recommend an inexpensive, effective way of keeping it cool? I can see there are lots of coolbag products online but I don't know how effective these are for interferon. Also, I've seen an old post on this site suggesting that it might not be safe to take it out of the fridge and allow it to warm up and then put it back in the fridge later.

I'd be grateful for any advice. Thanks.

[bruddery]

you can always ask the hotel for a fridge in the room? Most hotels are more than happy with doing this. Bruddery

[hunter5582]

I use a cooler bag and some of the gel ice packs the Besremi is shipped in. I was just using a standard lunch-style bag but found it would be better to upgrade to something more insulated for a long trip. Planning to order a Yeti bag for the future.

While staying in a hotel, most have a fridge in the room or you can get one at request. If not, the hotel will certainly have one they will store the med for you. They can also refreeze the ice pack if needed.

Note that is you are flying, Besremi has a warning to not let it be x-rayed. Not sure if PEG has the same caution.

[DJK12]

I bought a SHBC compact cooler case to put my EPO injections in when travelling. They also have to be kept in the fridge.

I usually check with the hotel in advance but have never had any problems with them putting them in their fridge. I expect they are used to putting guests' insulin in them. Make sure you take the ice pack out and get it re-frozen. I forgot once and my EPO nearly froze with the double cooling!

[EPguy]

If PEG is similar to Besremi, it comes in a very well insulated foam box with two ice gel packs in it. It's designed for multiple days of shipping. So if PEG has this too you could use that same package and ice packs for free and should be good for two days with no trouble since it is designed for that.

It is not ok to have it at room temp for two days.

My dosing has the IFN being warmed up and re cooled a few times. I've not had any trouble with that. My understanding is the warming is for our comfort more than for the medical need. So as one member suggested before, I use an ice cube on my skin to pre-cool the area and then the IFN does not need to warm up fully.

[little_oblivion]

Thanks to everyone who replied.