Which packaging system is best for insulin detemir?

Insulin detemir injection remains stable for at least 7 days in a closed glass vial or glass syringe and for only 3 days in a plastic syringe at room temperature, as demonstrated in a study of different primary packaging systems.

This study sought to examine the stability of insulin detemir at controlled room temperature at 25 °C in different packaging systems over 7 days.

The authors used a reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) assay method for insulin injection to determine the degradation characteristics of insulin detemir based on the assay results in different packaging systems (ie, pinhole glass vial, closed glass vial, glass syringe, and plastic syringe) at room temperature. Afterwards, they compared each packaging system to insulin detemir stored in the original packaged closed glass vial at 2–8 °C.

At the end of day 7, insulin detemir stored in a closed glass vial and a glass syringe exhibited minor degradation (98.96±1.49 percent and 99.78±0.10 percent, respectively). On the other end, insulin detemir stored in plastic syringe decreased to 94.90±2.50 percent by day 3 and to 93.52±0.29 percent by day 7. Furthermore, an increase in the assay was shown by insulin detemir stored in pinhole glass vial (152.13±0.12 percent) by day 7.

“This study will allow pharmacists in the hospital setting to deliver patient-specific insulin doses into an insulin syringe with confidence in the stability,” the authors said.