Cold chain shipping across the EU
We ship across the European Union, which means parcels spend between one and five days in transit at temperatures nobody controls. That sounds alarming for material stored at −20 °C. In practice the transit is rarely the problem; what happens in the first hour after delivery usually matters more.
Why the powder travels well
Lyophilisation removes water, and water is what most degradation reactions need. A peptide in dry, sealed, lyophilised form is markedly more stable than the same peptide in solution, and tolerates days at ambient temperature far better.
This is why suppliers ship lyophilised rather than pre-dissolved material, and why a parcel that arrives at room temperature is not automatically compromised.
What we pack and why
Insulated packaging with gel packs where the material calls for it. The purpose is not to keep the vial frozen across Europe — no passive packaging does that reliably — but to flatten the temperature peaks, particularly in summer transit and in vehicles standing in the sun.
Vials travel sealed, with the lot number on the label matching the certificate enclosed.
The two real risks
Moisture is the first. A vial moved from cold storage into a warm room draws condensation onto and into the powder the moment it is opened. Letting a cold vial reach room temperature before breaking the seal costs a few minutes and avoids the problem entirely.
Repeated freeze-thaw is the second, and it applies after reconstitution rather than during transit. Each cycle is an opportunity for aggregation and loss of material. Aliquoting a reconstituted vial into single-use portions before freezing removes the need to thaw the whole stock repeatedly.
On arrival
Check that the lot number on the vial matches the certificate in the box. This is the link that makes traceability real, and it takes seconds.
Check the vial for cracks in the seal and for any sign that the powder has taken up moisture — a cake that has collapsed, gone glassy or shifted from a firm plug to something tacky.
Then move it to storage promptly. The stated storage conditions for each product are on its page, and the use-by date is on the certificate for that lot.