travelling with Enbrel

[Michaelw]

does anyone have any information on how sensitive the medication is to temeprature changes? I travel long distances from Hong Kong to Italy/UK and then have to travel at the other end so the medication can be out of the refrigerator in a cool bag for long periods. On my last visit I had delays and started to think that the medication was not working as well as it should after about 3 weeks. thanks

[Enbrel patient]

I have been traveling with Enbrel for years, and after hassling with it in carry-on for a good many years, and taking it out and adding ice cubes and all that stuff, I now pack it in the hold baggage, inside the Enbrel cooler with 2 frozen coolpacks. In order to not have to pack too many syringes, I start delaying my injections a day at a time for 2 months prior to traveling so I inject the day before travel and then have a week's worth of peace and quiet. So far,my Enbrel got to its destination still cold, even after a 16-hour flight and both leaving and/or arriving at hot destinations. While I don't know how the temp changes and the relatively cold conditions in the hold at 30,000 ft altitude affect the meds, I have not had a problem with Enbrel not working properly. So I leave the stress of security and hand-carrying it behind and pray my luggage doesn't get delayed (happened only once).

[Cheryl]

Enbrel can stay out for 2 days, then it begins to die. A couple of hours, even a day wont hurt it. I called Amgen about this because my husband did the fridge clean and took it out for a few hours. I called them in a panic. The enbrel was still active, I injected and had the reaction (site) was the same, and I had no decline in symptoms.

[Ali]

I am going to Europe(France) for about five months and will not be able to take
enough enbrel with me to last that length of time. Can anyone tell me if enbrel can be purchased in Europe and where? What is the procedure? Do you need to see a Doctor there or will they fill a Specialists prescription from Canada.

How many months can you take with you on the plane?

[SFer]

Two things come to mind:

You can ask your insurance carrier if you can have a two-month supply ahead of your trip instead of the usual one. Insurance carriers are supposed to do this once a year.

Second, can you have your supplier express ship directly to you while you are traveling, perhaps by a third party? Can you coordinate with your host/hotel to store the Enbrel in a refrigerator until you arrive?

[Anne_]

Michaelw wrote:

does anyone have any information on how sensitive the medication is to temeprature changes? I travel long distances from Hong Kong to Italy/UK and then have to travel at the other end so the medication can be out of the refrigerator in a cool bag for long periods. On my last visit I had delays and started to think that the medication was not working as well as it should after about 3 weeks. thanks

Hi Micheal, I know you posted a long time ago but I have just joined and noticed that you travel a lot. Maybe you have heard of the Frio bag.This is typically used for insulin but I have been using it and find that it is amazing for Enbrel and comes in different sizes. I bought mine in Toronto but they are originally British and save you worrying about temperature when flying. Hope this helps. They have a web site....Frio,com. Good luck. Anne_