Thursday, April 06, 2006

Expired Medication


Is it a ploy created by the big pharmaceutical companies to scare consumers into buying more medication when the bottle expires? Are medicines safe to use beyond thier printed 'use by' date? Some say yes. I recently recieved email from a friend stating that many medications can be used long after the expiration date if kept cool. He may be right but there is some controversy about this topic. Below is my response to my friends email.

Friends,

I would be concerned about using prescribed medication after the expiration date. An article on Associated Content says that the expiration dates on pharmaceuticals are based on the medicines ability to be effective. Exposure to various environmental conditions such as light as well as temperature can be variable factors on shelf life. However controversial this topic is, I don't think it is a ploy by the pharmaceutical companies to sell more product. Many disposal programs for drug stores include a credit for returned expired drugs. Below is an excerpt from the article that I found.

"No one knows for sure if expired medications are safe. A consumer-oriented version of the Pentagon shelf-life program - which would check the actual life span of prescription drugs stored in bathrooms, kitchens, purses and cars - has never been done. "Currently, I am not aware of any programs that focus on drug stability in the consumer environment," said Dr. Claudia Okeke, an associate director at the U.S. Pharmacopeia in Rockville, Md."

Read the whole article here.


I have heard about dollar stores selling toothpaste that is expired or manufactured in other countries, but that is a different topic altogether. Read snopes story.

1 Comments:

Blogger Dar said...

I work in the pharmaceutical industry, quality assurance for sterile injectables. I don't know much about cosmetics, but as far as drugs go, I would never put an expired medicine into my body, given what I've learned at work.

Every pharmaceutical company has a Stability team. These teams consist of scientists who test the shelf life of various drugs and cosmetic products. This monitoring process is done to see how active ingredients stand up over time in various temperatures. Some medicines, especially antibiotics and cold medicines, actually become lethal after expiration. They can become lethal if they are also stored improperly (i.e., not according to directions supplied by the manufacturer).

Please do not take anything that has expired!

Tuesday, April 18, 2006 2:31:00 PM  

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