February 19: National Medical Product Stability Day

February 19 has been proposed as a national day to recognize the process, as well as the scientists who conduct the experiments to determine the stability of medical products, which results in the prescribed storage conditions and the product shelf life. Each pharmaceutical, biological, medical device, vaccine,
and cell therapy company employs or contracts scientists who subject the product to a range of temperature, humidity, and light over a period of time, test the product periodically for degradation, and employ statistics to the test results in order to project the shelf life. These experiments also inform how the product can be safely stored by medical personnel and the patient.

While every user sees the expiration date and recommended storage conditions on the package, few realize how much knowledge and work went into the determination of this information and that a specialized group of scientists known as Stabilitarians play a key part in producing it.

February 19 is the day chosen for this recognition to coincide with the birthday of Svante Arrhenius (1859-1927), a Swedish scientist who perfected the equation in which shelf life could be calculated and is still in worldwide use today for many categories of medical products.

Press language: National Medical Product Stability Day emphasizes the importance of observing the expiration date and storage conditions for Medical Products and honors the men and women (known as Stabilitarians) who use their scientific expertise to establish this information for the safety of the patient.

Status as of 2021: The National and International Day organizations have not responded to the 2020 applications for the designation of this Day. New applications have been submitted in 2021. It may require grass roots efforts to gain recognition by those organizations, but we Stabilitarians can start with our own companies by distributing the above information internally and preparing displays, presentations, and open house celebrations (post pandemic) to get the word out. Make sure that your management, HR, and stake-holders know that you are celebrating February 19 as Medical Product Stability Day and use available internal communication systems to share this information with your esteemed colleagues.

The need for cold /ultra-cold storage
and controlled shipping of Covid
Vaccines has brought to the attention
of the public the concept of Medical
Product Stability and the scientists
who conduct the experiments to
determine the stability of medical
products, which results in the
prescribed storage conditions and
product shelf life.