Capitainer® Drying Pouch

The Capitainer^® Drying pouch is a paper-based pouch designed to ensure good drying conditions and sample card protection for shipment back to the laboratory. It is designed to fit all available Capitainer^® sampling cards and has an easy-to-handle closing mechanism.

The Capitainer^® Drying pouch is designed to ensure efficient evaporation of the sample and therefore, it is also recommended to use a paper-based envelope for the shipment to ensure optimal drying conditions. It can, of course, also be combined with a desiccant if air-tight shipping is the preferred option.

Capitainer^® has designed its paper-based shipping method to reduce waste and minimise the carbon footprint of your workflows. The designated drying pouch is designed to ensure ventilation and efficient drying, as well as give the sample card extra protection from physical damage in the posting process. The packaging approach follows the CDC triple packaging guidelines for DBS specimen collection.^[1]

However, if your analytes are sensitive to humidity and/or temperature, alternative approaches such as storing the samples in aluminium-coated plastic bags and including desiccant pouches should be considered. The approach taken for individual analytes will need to be appropriately validated.

For more guidance, please check the extensive literature on DBS.

The paper “Dried blood spots: Effects of less than optimal collection, shipping time, heat, and humidity” gives an introduction to the topic.

^[1]Shipping Guidelines for Dried-Blood Spot Specimens (cdc.gov)