Last summer, during the heat wave I purchased from Sun Store in Nyon some NovoRapid Insulin. It comes in boxes of 5 'pens'. As it was hot out I came home immediately and put it in our fridge. I like to keep a three month supply on hand so I didn't open that box until last week.
Almost immediately I noticed my blood sugar was higher than it should be given the amount of insulin taken. I had a cold at that time and thought that my insulin resistance was particularly high due to that.
But the problem persisted and I began to suspect the insulin was defective. So I ditched the first pen and started a second ... same result. Second in the bin and started another .. Same result.
So I opened a fresh box, which was purchased in October and it was OK.
I asked my diabetalogue what I should do with the remaining defective pens. She said, just take them back to the pharmacy and they will dispose of them ...
But I want to bring this to the attention of Novo and everyone else in the 'cold-chain' that they had screwed up and they need to look at their processes. Also I object to my insurance company being expected to pay for defective medicines.
I sympathize with you. I agree it shouldn't be the insurance company (which in reality means us patients) taking the tab for this. However, it's going to be difficult to assign responsibility for what's happened. In my experience modern insulin is much more resilient to temperature changes than it used to be. I've travelled round the world with stocks of insulin and it hasn't always been easy to keep the stuff cool, but I've never had a problem with the stuff.
I get my insulin from Sun Store, though in Versoix, and I know they rigorously keep it in their fridges, because I see them collecting it from there.
Was there a problem in the manufacturing process? Seems very unlikely, as it will be very rigorously controlled.
I would go back with the defective set to Sun Store and discuss it with them. They may come up with a helpful discussion, though I have my doubts. Try and go there when they aren't too busy, when the pharmacist has a chance of having a bit of time for you, as it probably isn't worth talking with the assistants.
In hindsight I shouldn’t have blamed the heat. I suspected that could be the cause but in reality I didn’t know. It could actually be any number of things and there is no point speculating. The stuff was off, who knows why.
I just wish there was a way for an individual to actually test the potency of Insulin but that isn’t possible outside a lab.
I’ll discuss it with the pharmacist. Thanks for the suggestions.