Reconstituted Reta - what's the latest on shelf-life?

[Cgrey80]

I get that I'm asking for a mix of opinion and documented "fact", but that's the nature of playing in the grey, right? I'm especially curious to hear from others who may be on a lower maintenance dose of Reta.

I'll be trialing Reta soon and believe I will likely be a lower-dose responder (based upon prior experience with Sema.) If that hypothesis turns out to be accurate, each of my 10mg vials would have as much as ten weeks worth of reconstituted Reta to get through. Yes, of course I'd be keeping it refrigerated and, I imagine, it would hold its potency longer if I kept in the vial (rather than using a pen... my preferred method.) But assuming I maintain sterility and keep it refrigerated...

...what do you think would be the maximum shelf-life for a reconstituted vial of reta?

 

[mraajr]

More than what most people will tell you here. Several months minimum. 10 weeks will not be too long if proper care is taken when reconstituting and dosing. Prescription GLP-1s are good for years. Two and a half months will be fine.

 

[Calm Logic]

and, I imagine, it would hold its potency longer if I kept in the vial (rather than using a pen... my preferred method.)

To me, the pens seem even more self-sealing, if anything.

 

[Cgrey80]

To me, the pens seem even more self-sealing, if anything.

Yeah, I get what you mean. I use pens for all my current peptides, but I guess, technically, as you're changing needles and transferring the pen back and forth every week its not as sterile as a sealed vial? But, that's just a hunch.

 

[BooneDonk]

Yeah, I get what you mean. I use pens for all my current peptides, but I guess, technically, as you're changing needles and transferring the pen back and forth every week it’s not as sterile as a sealed vial? But, that's just a hunch.

Filtered peptide into a sterilized pen cartridge doesn’t get much “cleaner” and long lasting. That’s my terrible opinion lol

 

[Really?]

Everything I can find is now suggesting a minimum of 3 months with proper hygiene and sterilization.

 

[Calm Logic]

Everything I can find is now suggesting a minimum of 3 months with proper hygiene and sterilization.

I would agree, though the number of jabs into the stopper would then be the limiting factor, like if doing daily dosing 90 jabs would be crazy. 20 times into the stopper would be my limit, with the ideal being less than 10.

 

[MsGizmo]

Yeah, I get what you mean. I use pens for all my current peptides, but I guess, technically, as you're changing needles and transferring the pen back and forth every week its not as sterile as a sealed vial? But, that's just a hunch.

The seal of a cartridge used in pens is the same material as a vial.

 

[Really?]

I would agree, though the number of jabs into the stopper would then be the limiting factor, like if doing daily dosing 90 jabs would be crazy. 20 times into the stopper would be my limit, with the ideal being less than 10.

Very good point, the 90+ days was all based off weekly injections

 

[Labcat]

I don’t know reta, but insulin pens are documented to have backwash into the cartridge. (They found human wbc proteins.) insulin has mega preservatives- both phenol and benzyl alc.
I did an info search once about this, just google.

 

[tubby]

I'm kind of surprised none of the testing labs have tested this just for fun. I know if I ran one I'd reconstitute some vials and store them in the fridge, keeping one for 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, and 12 months, just to get an idea of what the decay curve might look like. Obviously there are bacterial concerns and all that, but peptide stability under typical storage conditions seems like it would be a fun thing to explore and not necessarily safe to assume reta is going to be as stable as tirz.

 

[Dos-Dox]

I was working a 2 weeks on/2 weeks off schedule and away from home for 16 days at a time until recently, so it took me a lot longer to go through a single vial than normal. I’ve used for months without issue, but I’m very meticulous about cleanliness too. You could also get a vial spike for anything that’s going to take you a while to use to minimize the number of pokes you’re making into a single vial. That should help maintain sterility longer.

 

[PopTart]

each of my 10mg vials would have as much as ten weeks worth of reconstituted Reta

FWIW - If you pin your first dose on the day you reconstitute, your 10 doses will be used in 9 weeks.

 

[Labcat]

The seal of a cartridge used in pens is the same material as a vial.

True, but the other end of the needle is in your body while there is a fluid connection. Turns out there is backwash. In something like a third of insuline pens tested, and they have a lot of preservatives in them with an offical longer date than 28 I think.

 

[Labcat]

I was working a 2 weeks on/2 weeks off schedule and away from home for 16 days at a time until recently, so it took me a lot longer to go through a single vial than normal. I’ve used for months without issue, but I’m very meticulous about cleanliness too. You could also get a vial spike for anything that’s going to take you a while to use to minimize the number of pokes you’re making into a single vial. That should help maintain sterility longer.

Does anyone have device instructions for specific vial spikes thet say they are able to protect vials for extended times past the typical 28 days? The fact that they are a bigger disruption stabbing into the “self healing” stopper didn’t make sense to me entirely from a physical analysis standpoint. (They also need to be used on an appropriately rated stopper, otw they can damage the seal by pushing the stopper in a little and introduce contamination)
Not all vial spikes are CSTDs (closed system transfer devices) and even a branded CSTDs I looked into stated they only work for 7 days then toss the vial. I think they can be very sanitary for a certain period if they are the CSTDs but it seems they might also introduce a weakness with a short lifetime.
How much this matters with SQ instead of IV applications is also a question. I’m intrigued because I haven’t heard this recommnded by pharmacies.