Air flight transportation of Autologous Serum - any experience or advice?

[farmgirl]

I have transported mine many times like Saag except I have never had a copy of the prescription. My travel involves 2 days with an overnight and 3 different security screenings plus a manual screen as I board one of the flights. I put them in a soft sided cooler just big enough for a 6 pack. I put a freezer pack on the bottom, one each side (2 sides) and one on the top and put them in my carry on. I don't mention them when I go through security and have never been questioned. When I arrive at my hotel, I unpack everything and put it in the freezer in the room but leave the cooler bag out so that I see it and don't forget them. The are almost always still frozen or nearly but I don't worry I just refreeze them regardless of the condition and have never had a problem. Freezer packs are not liquid, they are some kind of gelatinous material that never becomes liquid even when not frozen so I don't think that they contravene the regulations regarding liquids and gels. I recommend you do what you have to do and don't worry I doubt you will have a problem...F/G

Do we need to inform the airline that we are transporting liquids in light of all the new safety regulations? And do they need to be in the hold or can they be in hand luggage? Is anyone able to recommend a storage case that keeps liquids frozen for several hours?

We want to ensure that the serum can be transferred at -20C making sure it is kept safe for use and that we do not naively turn up at an airport and get rejected for the flight because we are trying to transport liquids

I've traveled with serum drops in my carry on (they are waaaay too valuable to trust in checked baggage!). The airlines here will exempt you from the liquid rule if it's medication (and I was even flying through the U.S., which we all know is very strict!). Also, they allowed me to use a sizeable icepack to keep my serum cold for a day of travel.

I used a padded, insulated insulin carrier (bought from Amazon.com) that contained a large icepack - I put the frozen serum on top, packed crumpled paper towels around them to keep them centered over the icepack, and also made sure it was labeled by the pharmacy that it required freezing temps. After a 24 hour travel day, although much of the serum was no longer frozen, it was still refrigerator-cold. When I got to our destination, I just popped them back into the freezer.

Read through your airline's baggage policies, and you'll find info on restrictions/exceptions to the liquid rules. They may vary from my airline, but I can't imagine that they wouldn't permit you to bring whatever you need to keep medication cold.

[nadz]

Thanks spmcc thats really good advice

The Vissum Institute in Spain seems to be pioneering the use of E-PRP in Europe and from a airline travel perspective looks the most straightforward for us from England. Tonya Nuelle from Tri-State Hemodynamic Services in the US have also been extremely helpful.

[spmcc]

I know that Sazy and Ariel got serum drops from VISSUM Institute in Spain (they are both in the UK). I'm sure that the Institute knows how the drops must be transported. You might want to contact them. They probably have something already written out for their patients who travel to see them.

You could also search DEZ using the term "vissum" to find posts. Perhaps patients explained how they transported their drops back to the UK.

[nadz]

Thanks Cali that's good advice - ive checked online and FedEx do operate in Spain so will investigate further.

[Cali]

I get mine shipped, packed in dry ice. If you don't want to take a potential risk of the airlines not shipping it, do you have a company like a FedEx or UPS or some type of overnight or 2-day shipping service? I had mine shipped in dry ice from Orange County to Tucson, Arizona. Those are both very warm/hot places in the US. They arrived in Tucson, completely frozen in the dry ice.

[nadz]

We are based in England and are currently in a catch 22 type situation trying to obtain Autologous Blood Serum by the NHS route - we have a prescription from our regional expert eye consultant but the local funding group have said No and there are real problems getting the eye drops from the Blood Service via the self funding route as well

The next best option seems to be Autologous eye-platelet rich plasma (E-PRP) which is available in Spain and the US. Does anyone have any experience of getting E-PRP in Europe?

The upside is that E-PRP seems to have more growth factors in it than traditional Serum and hence could be better for lasik related dryness and seems to be relatively cheap compared to the approx £1500 cost per Quarter for supply of traditional serum from the NHS Blood service if it is not funded by the local funding group. The downside is that E-PRP does not seem to be available in the UK.

Does anyone have experience of transporting frozen liquids like Autologous serum or E-PRP via Airlines ?

Do we need to inform the airline that we are transporting liquids in light of all the new safety regulations? And do they need to be in the hold or can they be in hand luggage? Is anyone able to recommend a storage case that keeps liquids frozen for several hours?

We want to ensure that the serum can be transferred at -20C making sure it is kept safe for use and that we do not naively turn up at an airport and get rejected for the flight because we are trying to transport liquids

Any help or advice would be greatly received
Nadz