Extreme Heat damages EpiPens. I have learned of this beyond a shadow of a doubt.

You may recall that last summer I did an experiment where I exposed five EpiPens to extreme temperatures. Of the five, only three fired properly.

I made a video of this and it created a sensation in the world of EpiPen users. Particularly the EpiPen that jammed because of extreme heat. Granted, the temperatures I achieved were hotter than most users will experience (between 180 and 200 degrees Fahrenheit. They were all in full sun on the dashboard of my car.) But the message was still clear: do not leave your epinephrine in the heat.

I was thrilled to bring attention to this important issue, but I also had my doubts. What if I had simply gotten a bad Pen? So at the end of last summer, I repeated the heat portion of the experiment with 20 more EpiPens! (Ten matched pairs.)

A new Experiment for EpiPens in Extreme Heat

I wanted to see if this effect on an EpiPen in Extreme Heat could be repeated. Once again, I put EpiPens on the dashboard of my car in full sun.

I meant to heat the EpiPens for two weeks, but after getting some cool weather and then getting busy, I actually left them for 6 weeks. At the end I fired them all. If I’d had a bad Pen in my first experiment, all of these would still fire. If the heat had indeed caused the problem, then the jammed EpiPen phenomenon would be repeatable.

The maximum temperature I recorded in my car during this experiment was 195.4 degrees. Many days got to at least 180 degrees. That is pretty extreme heat for an EpiPen!

Let me tell you, the results were astounding!

Read our results on our main blog post here!