Accidentally Kept Junel In A Cold Car

Hi Rachel and thank you for your great question. Unfortunately, I will not be able to give you an answer with 100% certainty, but I can give you my best educated opinion on the matter. 

Your Junel Fe (which contains the same ingredients as the similarly named brand Microgestin Fe) will most likely be fine to use if it is exposed to lower or higher than the manufacturer's recommended temperatures for a short period of time (just a few hours).

Now, the professional monograph from the manufacturer states to:

“Store at 20 to 25°C (68 to 77°F) [See USP Controlled Room Temperature]. Protect from light.

However, even though it’s not explicitly stated, most drugs are manufactured to be able to withstand less than ideal conditions and are often permitted to experience 'excursions' for a short period of time (an excursion being a short time period in which the drug experiences conditions outside of the listed storage requirements).

Temperature Excursions

Excursions for most drugs are generally accepted since it can be nearly impossible to have a specifically controlled environment during the shipping and distribution process. In fact, there’s a pretty decent chance that the truck that carried the drugs to the pharmacy fell a bit outside of the recommended storage range.

When I worked in a retail pharmacy, oftentimes in the winter, I would get a few totes of drugs from my drug wholesaler that had been in a cold truck for several hours and I don’t think twice about it.

Think about mail-order medication too. At some point in this process (e.g. when it sits in your mailbox), it's going to be temporarily outside of the stated storage requirements. Again, this is fine for most drugs.

I certainly want to point out that some drugs are fragile and very sensitive to temperature, but they are specifically packaged and sent to your pharmacy (or mailed to the patient) in insulated totes with ice packs and temperature sensors. These sensitive drugs are typically insulins, protein based drugs, and vaccines. In general, with the exception of liquid drugs getting frozen, being cold usually prolongs the life of most drugs.

Safe To Take?

Going back to your situation, there is no evidence that keeping Junel Fe in a car and exposing it to cold temperatures negatively affects the tablets.

If the Junel tablets appear warped or discolored, then I would call your pharmacy and ask if they can be replaced, though you might need to pay cash for the refill. If they look fine, then they probably are fine. Again, unfortunately I cannot guarantee this with 100% certainty since there is no data available to be definitive. Therefore you might want to use a backup method of birth control or replace the tablets if you are concerned.

I hope this helps. Feel free to write us back in the future!