Twinject discontinued: new Auvi-Q injector in production

[YouKnowWho]

Kennesaw State University - will find the article but the student only had one epi pen on hand, attempted to use it but it misfired and died as a result.  It's getting more coverage locally because it happened just a few miles from here so what I am reading in the media vs what I am seeing on the local board might be different.

[YouKnowWho]

http://allergy.hyperboards.com/action/view_topic/topic_id/20072

This is from the old board - his needle bent and he couldn't use it.

Had he had the slimmer Twin Ject he would have had two doses.  The new design of the Epi is for the birds and not feasible for guys frankly.  Especially since most packs are designed not to hold the double pack.  Others have noted that he was not afraid to use his epi pen.

I am not trying to put the fear in anyone's hearts but yes, it's stories like this that make me worry about when my boys get older.  We are putting all of our eggs in one basket with the Auvi Q...

[twinturbo]

Yeah, current EpiPens are not "dude" friendly even with all my guys embracing their manpurse sides. The Auvi-Q demo specifically features a young teen male straightforwardly following the voice directions as he uses a trainer on himself. As for Twinject I'm not giving up until Twinject Canada gets back to me. If they're still in production I bet my local pharmacist will figure out a way one might obtain it. My preferred everyday carry would be: 2 EpiPen, Jr. mixed lot + 1 ped. Twinject
+ 1 ped Auvi-Q + mom's Twinject.

[SilverLining]

http://allergy.hyperboards.com/action/view_topic/topic_id/20072

This is from the old board - his needle bent and he couldn't use it.

Had he had the slimmer Twin Ject he would have had two doses.  The new design of the Epi is for the birds and not feasible for guys frankly.  Especially since most packs are designed not to hold the double pack.  Others have noted that he was not afraid to use his epi pen.

I am not trying to put the fear in anyone's hearts but yes, it's stories like this that make me worry about when my boys get older.  We are putting all of our eggs in one basket with the Auvi Q...

Both shots of the twinject use the same needle, so if it was bent, neither dose could have been used.

When we switched (temporarily) to twinject, I still purchased just as many as when I buy epi-pens.

[SweetandSour]

I love twinject,and was upset when my pharmacy couldn't get the refill about a month ago. I had to get epi pen. I hate it.Too bulky.

[Jessica]

If the Auvi-Q can be carried easily by men in a pocket, won't it get too warm from body heat? I had that concern with the epis in a waist belt during the warmer weather. But since my PA/TNA is a girl and can carry a purse, it hasn't been a big issue.

[SilverLining]

Jessica, I live in Canada.  I carry my epi-pen in my purse.  In winter, it gets cold in there.

I do what I can....but some extreme temperatures are going to happen.  I make sure in the car my purse does not have the heat blowing on it, but other than that....it gets hot and it gets cold.

(I do think you raised a valid concern.  I just think for me it goes beyond what I can do anything about.)

[GoingNuts]

DS keeps his epipen in his pocket.  I thought that would be too warm, but the Mt. Sinai gurus said it's OK.  Honestly, as boys get older, it's the only way they're going to carry them.

[Mfamom]

yeah, was going to say same about the bent needle and I've also wondered about if the auvi will get too warm in a pocket.

[Macabre]

DS keeps his epipen in his pocket.  I thought that would be too warm, but the Mt. Sinai gurus said it's OK.  Honestly, as boys get older, it's the only way they're going to carry them.

Quoting for truth. That's where we got to be in the last year. It just is. I used to worry about this with the Auvi. I wrote the folks developing it about that.  But in the last year, it's stopped being a concern.

And if I remember right, the issue with heat above 82 is the mechanism, not the medicine. I could be wrong about this. 

DS will still carry Epis in his backpack.  We will still buy the stupid, bulky epis.

Last night for homecoming, he carried an epi in one dress pants pocket and one in his suit coat pocket. Two auvis would have had a lower profile.

[CMdeux]

HI temps ==> medication integrity (It's both heat and LIGHT labile)

LOW temps (and other environmental insults like salt water, repeated x-rays, etc) ==> mechanism.  But also the seals can fail (extremely high temperatures also come with this concern), which can also lead to degradation of epinephrine via oxidation.

Just for clarification, either thing is obviously not good.  But my impression is that as long as the device and mechanism have good integrity, fairly frequent excursions into higher-than-ideal temps (meaning 80-100F) aren't that big a deal.  VERY high temps obviously are.  EVERY low-temp excursion (meaning down to something near freezing or below) is a risk because of cracking in seals.

[twinturbo]

Think about it this way: the epinephrine you keep in your possession is probably the most safeguarded epinephrine there is. You know where it's been, how it's been treated, how far from expiration it is. Most life-dependent products are engineered with at least some degree of tolerance so we who are carrying as close to ideal probably have the best injectable epinephrine around. My personal line of concern would be an injector and content origin that's a total , or if mine has knowingly been exposed to sustained variance beyond tolerance. In any case better to have a well tended epinephrine injector on hand that has experienced some stresses tha none at all.

[Ciel]

Both shots of the twinject use the same needle, so if it was bent, neither dose could have been used.

When we switched (temporarily) to twinject, I still purchased just as many as when I buy epi-pens.

I learned this lesson after I used my twinject to treat a reaction. Afterward I bent the needle kind of out of habit. I had only used one dose and a few days later when I was feeling better I got the idea to practice with the second dose and an orange, since I had never practiced with the real deal second dose. I couldn't though, because I had bent the needle.

[Ciel]

I was actually coming here to post a similar topic, but I see it already exists.... which sort of crushes my hopes that the pharmacist I spoke to yesterday was wrong.

I switched to Twinject after the EpiPen redesign but was forced to switch back to EpiPen about a year ago because Twinject was on backorder. At the time I asked if they had an idea how long and was told "indefinitely". A year later they still haven't come in and I've had it on my to-do list for a while to follow up at the Pharmacy. I asked yesterday when I was there picking up some other prescriptions and was told by the pharmacist that it had been discontinued in Canada (and also elsewhere I now see). I haven't checked with the company directly yet, was just about to do that actually but came here first to see if it was being discussed..... I am terribly upset that it IS. I was very much hoping my pharmacist was mistaken.

I am not pleased with this news. I have been tolerating the new EpiPens because in my mind I have been telling myself that it is only temporary until I can get Twinjects again. Sigh. I hope the new device materializes soon. And I hope I like it, because I still really hate the new EpiPens.

I haven't really read much about it yet -- heading off to look at the link now. Thanks for posting!

[base700]

Twinject is a great product, it has a huge hill to climb vs. epipen.  Epipen is a great product, it's the standard.  Twinject is the same medicine but there is a backup second dose built right in.  It is a product that works!