Lyophilized vial, sealed
Refrigerator. Until "use by" on the COA. Up to 24 months from fill.
Lyophilized, freezer
Optional. Extends shelf to 36 months. Avoid frost-free freezers.
After mixing
Fridge only. Use within 28 days. Specific peptides shorter — see table.
Room temp transit
Lyo tolerates short ambient. Reconstituted does not — keep cold.
Two clocks. Don't mix them up.
Sealed lyophilized
From the moment the vial is filled to the moment you reconstitute it.
Reconstituted
From the moment BAC water hits the cake to the moment you discard.
The handling rules.
Most stability problems we see in the field aren't temperature — they're physical handling. Here's the short list.
Reconstitute by sliding water down the vial wall.
Don't squirt the BAC stream directly onto the cake — agitation can denature.
Swirl gently, don't shake.
30 seconds of slow swirl until clear. Vortexing is fine for some peptides, not others — when unsure, don't.
Date the vial after mixing.
Sharpie the reconstitution date on the cap. The 28-day clock starts the moment water hits the cake.
Don't freeze reconstituted material.
Freeze-thaw of an aqueous solution causes irreversible aggregation in most peptides.
Don't store in fridge door.
Worst position — temperature swings every time someone opens it. Use a back shelf, not the door.
Don't use frost-free freezers for long-term.
Frost-free cycles temperature on a 4–6 hour swing. Use a chest freezer or skip the freezer entirely.
Don't pierce the stopper more than 20×.
Each puncture risks silicone shedding and contamination. Larger doses → fewer punctures.
Don't expose lyo to sunlight or 25 °C+ for > 72 h.
UV degrades aromatic residues; sustained heat shortens shelf life by months.
Use the right water.
What you reconstitute with matters more than most patients expect. Bacteriostatic water is the default — and it's the only one we recommend in our customer guidance.
Bacteriostatic water
Sterile water with 0.9% benzyl alcohol. Inhibits microbial growth in multi-dose vials. The standard for all our peptides.
Sterile water (no preservative)
Acceptable for single-dose vials only. No bacteriostatic agent — risk of microbial growth on second puncture.
Tap, distilled, or saline
Tap water is non-sterile. Distilled household water lacks USP testing. 0.9% saline can shift solubility for some peptides.
What an excursion actually does.
A temperature excursion outside the 2–8 °C envelope isn't automatically a discard. Here's how we judge it — based on our own stability data, not vendor folklore.
| Excursion | Lyo (sealed) | Reconstituted | What we do |
|---|---|---|---|
| ≤ 25 °C, ≤ 72 h | Acceptable | Acceptable, mark date | Continue use, no action. |
| ≤ 25 °C, 3–7 d | Acceptable, shelf -3 mo | Discard | Lyo: continue but treat shelf as 9 mo, not 12. |
| 25–35 °C, ≤ 24 h | Acceptable | Discard | Lyo: continue. Recon: replace. |
| 25–35 °C, > 24 h | Discard or test | Discard | Email support — we'll replace under our guarantee. |
| Frozen (lyo) | Acceptable | — | Bring to 2–8 °C before opening. |
| Frozen (recon) | — | Discard | No exceptions; aggregation likely. |
| Direct sunlight ≥ 1 h | Discard | Discard | UV damage; we replace if shipping caused it. |
Three legitimate transport setups.
Insulated lunch tote
Dual ice packs, vials wrapped in towel, no direct contact. Holds 4–6 hours in 25 °C ambient. Good for clinic-to-home or short travel.
Hold ~ 4–6 h @ 25 °C · Cost < $25 · Use day trip
Validated phase-change shipper
The same insulated mailer we ship in. Recharge the cold pack overnight in the freezer; holds 60+ hours at 35 °C. Ideal for international moves.
Hold 60+ h @ 35 °C · Cost reuse our shipper · Use moves & longer trips
Air travel (carry-on)
TSA-acceptable in carry-on. Lyo is shelf-stable for the trip; pack in insulated tote with frozen gel pack < 100 ml. Refrigerate on arrival.
TSA rule Lyo: medical · Best carry-on, not checked · Recon avoid
Ready to reconstitute?
The reconstitution & injection technique guide takes you from sealed vial to ready-to-use solution, step by step.