Best practices freezing & thawing to reconstitute?

Beachnwaves98

Beachnwaves98

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Hi all - I’m expecting 3 vials of Reta 20mg as
lyophilized powder this week, this will be my first time freezing and later unfreezing to reconstitute.

So I have couple questions for the brain trust here:

1 - how long should you allow freezed powder to thaw before adding the Hospira BAC water to reconstitute?

2 - is it true Hospira will continue to work once unsealed for multiple months, assuming it’s refrigerated the whole time?

2a - how would you know when Hospira has gone bad?

Thank you in advance 🙏
 
1 - It takes virtually no time to thaw. Maybe 10 mins?
2 - Yes, it will, just use good practices with it like swabbing the top with an alcohol wipe, don't double-dip the same needle, etc. Should ast a few months easily.
2a - You wouldn't really. Worst case scenario you see something growing in it, but that's nearly unheard of. If you're going more than like I dunno 4-6 months, then may as well toss it, but by definition it's sterile...
 
My personal experience:

1. I take my Reta out of the freezer first, then get everything else ready/sanitized for reconstitution. By the time I've got everything together and wiped down the vials and surfaces, I go to reconstitute. No more waiting to thaw than that.

2. I use my BAC until it's gone. Your level of acceptable risk may be different.

2a. If it's clear and still looks like it did before I punctured it, I send it.

Again, this is all going to depend on your risk acceptance. I trust my ability to prep all surfaces and use good sanitary practices. If something seems off, that's when I chuck the stuff.
 
The powder isn't frozen because there's almost no water left in it. It's just cooled down. Even though the peptide wouldn't be at much risk if you added the BAC water right away, I prefer to let the vial return to room temperature. I place the vials on a small metal tray for 30 minutes to an hour. Check the temperature with your hand.

Yes, some people use Hospira for 90 days or longer. There is nothing to feed the bacteria that will enter with each puncture of the seal. If you follow best practices for aseptic technique, there won't be any problems with that.

There are two issues that can become more problematic: pH drift and oxidation caused by oxygen in the air that enters the bottle.

Oxidation produces benzaldehyde, but in quantities too small to be toxic when injected. However, if your BAC smells like almonds, that means there’s too much of it, and you should switch to a different bottle. Our sense of smell is very sensitive to this, but to be sure of the exact amount, you’d need a spectrometer.

To measure pH drift, use test strips calibrated for a range of approximately 4 to 7. Some strips come with two test pads and have an accuracy of 0.25.

A pH above 7-8 promotes deamidation. Since Reta contains glutamine (and Tirz as well: need to check, I forgot), above this pH there will be a degradation rate of about 10 to 20% per month. I’ve seen a few studies that confirm this, but I didn’t save the links.
 
Last edited:
LongevitybroTX said:
1 - It takes virtually no time to thaw. Maybe 10 mins?
2 - Yes, it will, just use good practices with it like swabbing the top with an alcohol wipe, don't double-dip the same needle, etc. Should ast a few months easily.
2a - You wouldn't really. Worst case scenario you see something growing in it, but that's nearly unheard of. If you're going more than like I dunno 4-6 months, then may as well toss it, but by definition it's sterile...
Click to expand...
Thank you so much .., precisely what I needed 🙏
 
Beachnwaves98 said:
Hi all - I’m expecting 3 vials of Reta 20mg as
lyophilized powder this week, this will be my first time freezing and later unfreezing to reconstitute.

So I have couple questions for the brain trust here:

1 - how long should you allow freezed powder to thaw before adding the Hospira BAC water to reconstitute?

2 - is it true Hospira will continue to work once unsealed for multiple months, assuming it’s refrigerated the whole time?

2a - how would you know when Hospira has gone bad?

Thank you in advance 🙏
Click to expand...
Due to Hospira water...all of the bac water manufacturers recommend to store opened vials in a room temperature, not in the fridge.
 
CharmanderInDisguise said:
My personal experience:

1. I take my Reta out of the freezer first, then get everything else ready/sanitized for reconstitution. By the time I've got everything together and wiped down the vials and surfaces, I go to reconstitute. No more waiting to thaw than that.

2. I use my BAC until it's gone. Your level of acceptable risk may be different.

2a. If it's clear and still looks like it did before I punctured it, I send it.

Again, this is all going to depend on your risk acceptance. I trust my ability to prep all surfaces and use good sanitary practices. If something seems off, that's when I chuck the stuff.
Click to expand...
Brilliant advice I really appreciate it. It’s all super timely with my vials arriving this week.

Now that I found the right dose for me 4 mg weekly. I am so pumped on Reta, need to continue with it all the way through to my goal.

Following the best practices is obv most efficient way to make that happen. Thank you again 🙏
 
eidos said:
The powder isn't frozen because there's almost no water left in it. It's just cooled down. Even though the peptide wouldn't be at much risk if you added the BAC water right away, I prefer to let the vial return to room temperature. I place the vials on a small metal tray for 30 minutes to an hour. Check the temperature with your hand.

Yes, some people use Hospira for 90 days or longer. There is nothing to feed the bacteria that will enter with each puncture of the seal. If you follow best practices for aseptic technique, there won't be any problems with that.

There are two issues that can become more problematic: pH drift and oxidation caused by oxygen in the air that enters the bottle.

Oxidation produces benzaldehyde, but in quantities too small to be toxic when injected. However, if your BAC smells like almonds, that means there’s too much of it, and you should switch to a different bottle. Our sense of smell is very sensitive to this, but to be sure of the exact amount, you’d need a spectrometer.

To measure pH drift, use test strips calibrated for a range of approximately 4 to 7. Some strips come with two test pads and have an accuracy of 0.25.

A pH above 7-8 promotes deamidation. Since Reta contains glutamine (and Tirz as well: need to check, I forgot), above this pH there will be a degradation rate of about 10 to 20% per month. I’ve seen a few studies that confirm this, but I didn’t save the links.
Click to expand...
This is exceptional thank you for the highly technical response, especially on sensing when the BAC water is past its useful date. Obv tougher to judge with no medical guidance from telehealth pre-FDA approval, so this really helps. Thank you again 🙏
 
LongevitybroTX said:
1 - It takes virtually no time to thaw. Maybe 10 mins?
2 - Yes, it will, just use good practices with it like swabbing the top with an alcohol wipe, don't double-dip the same needle, etc. Should ast a few months easily.
2a - You wouldn't really. Worst case scenario you see something growing in it, but that's nearly unheard of. If you're going more than like I dunno 4-6 months, then may as well toss it, but by definition it's sterile…
Click to expand...

All spot on and super succinct, thank you so much, real world advice in so many different flavors is extraordinarily helpful. Grateful for this community - Reddit blows lol
 
ultima thule said:
Due to Hospira water...all of the bac water manufacturers recommend to store opened vials in a room temperature, not in the fridge.
Click to expand...
Correct, and I use it till it's gone. Keep it in a dark area too. That includes the unopened ones. Do you have all your reconstitution stuff? Bigger luer lock syringes for adding the BAC, extra luer lock needles including a larger gauge 1.5" one. Are you going to filter? Last, what size and brand syringes do you have.
 
BNLFL said:
Correct, and I use it till it's gone. Keep it in a dark area too. That includes the unopened ones. Do you have all your reconstitution stuff? Bigger luer lock syringes for adding the BAC, extra luer lock needles including a larger gauge 1.5" one. Are you going to filter? Last, what size and brand syringes do you have.
Click to expand...
What size and gauge needles are you using for just reconstitution purposes?
 
BNLFL said:
Correct, and I use it till it's gone. Keep it in a dark area too. That includes the unopened ones. Do you have all your reconstitution stuff? Bigger luer lock syringes for adding the BAC, extra luer lock needles including a larger gauge 1.5" one. Are you going to filter? Last, what size and brand syringes do you have.
Click to expand...
Appreciate your feedback. I sure do, reconstituted my first vial with them. I got the larger syringes a while ago to deal with remainder Tirzepitide in my old vials.

I bought off Amazon, Exlavges is the brand.

No plans to filter, not sure what the use case would be for that?

Thank you again.
 
Bigdog0628 said:
What size and gauge needles are you using for just reconstitution purposes?
Click to expand...
I have a bunch, but mainly use 25g 1" luer locks with a 3 or 5ml luer lock syringe for reconstituting. Then I grab a 5ml syringe and a 1.5" leur lock needle to suck the mixed stuff out. Add a filter, and a new 1" luer lock needle. Then add about 1mg BAC flush the filter with a cheap 1ml luer lock syringe. It sounds like a bunch, but 2 vials take about 15 minutes. These are all cheap Amazon needles and syringes. My pinning syringes are Easy Touch and BD 31g 8mm .05 and 1ml units. Both are excellent with the edge maybe going to the ET.
 
BNLFL said:
I have a bunch, but mainly use 25g 1" luer locks with a 3 or 5ml luer lock syringe for reconstituting. Then I grab a 5ml syringe and a 1.5" leur lock needle to suck the mixed stuff out. Add a filter, and a new 1" luer lock needle. Then add about 1mg BAC flush the filter with a cheap 1ml luer lock syringe. It sounds like a bunch, but 2 vials take about 15 minutes. These are all cheap Amazon needles and syringes. My pinning syringes are Easy Touch and BD 31g 8mm .05 and 1ml units. Both are excellent with the edge maybe going to the ET.
Click to expand...
You need to do a tutorial lol
 
Bigdog0628 said:
You need to do a tutorial lol
Click to expand...
I also filter about the same way. I add an extra needle to vent the new vial as I push the filtered compound in. This is more important with pen cartridges, but also works well on regular vials.

There are a bunch of tutorials on YouTube. I like the way Peptide Critic does his videos. But, there are others that are equally informative.
 
BNLFL said:
I have a bunch, but mainly use 25g 1" luer locks with a 3 or 5ml luer lock syringe for reconstituting. Then I grab a 5ml syringe and a 1.5" leur lock needle to suck the mixed stuff out. Add a filter, and a new 1" luer lock needle. Then add about 1mg BAC flush the filter with a cheap 1ml luer lock syringe. It sounds like a bunch, but 2 vials take about 15 minutes. These are all cheap Amazon needles and syringes. My pinning syringes are Easy Touch and BD 31g 8mm .05 and 1ml units. Both are excellent with the edge maybe going to the ET.
Click to expand...
What filters do you use and where do you get them?
 
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