Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.
Have you ever wondered if that old prescription sitting in
your refrigerator is still any good? You
see the expiration date is well past, but it was expensive and you may need it
again, right?
If the expiration date has come and gone, is it safe to
keep? And for how long? Will it hurt you if you take it “out of date?”
Let’s start with how medication expiration dates came about.
There were no expiration dates on medications until 1979. The FDA started
requiring dates to “ensure effectiveness.” The generally accepted minimum
standard for potency is a concentration of 90% or better.
The term “expiration date” is a real misnomer. The drug
companies actually decide the date a drug “expires.” And by “expires”, they
mean the date at which they will no longer guarantee its’ effectiveness. They
test the drugs initially on one batch of drugs using humidity, temperature,
photolysis and oxidation as stressors on the drug. The FDA reviews the data and
sets the date. However, the drug makers do not have to do any further testing
to establish if the drugs are useable past the date they set.
Talk about the fox guarding the hen house! Now medications
are a serious thing, and we want to err on the side of safety. But…the other
side is that they set the dates very short in order to sell more doses. You
can’t tell me that game isn’t being played when you read the next study that
has come out.
Some experts say we waste about $765 billion each year by
tossing “expired drugs!” That’s about a quarter of all healthcare spending.
In 2016, the Department of Defense (which maintains a $13.6
billion worth of drugs in its stockpile) saved $2.1 billion dollars by not
tossing “expired” drugs. It tested them and found they were fully effective, at
a cost of $3.1 million dollars. They spent one dollar and saved $677! Good for
them and us, but why can’t we, the people, do the same thing?
The answer is, you most likely can, without any negative
effects, and this study of actual 30-40 year old drugs proves it. This cache of
old drugs was found in the back closet of an old pharmacy. The manufacturing
dates were prior to man landing on the moon. Of the 14 different drugs
obtained, 12 of them were still at the 90% potency level, and some were at 100%
of original potency.
Another study of 122 different drugs found that 88% of the
lots could easily be extended up to 66 months, and that seems conservative. In
fact, the FDA found that nearly 90% of 100 different prescription and over the
counter medications retained their potency even 15 years after the labeled
date.
When medications are stored properly, in cool dry
environments, it appears the integrity and potency of the drugs extends well
past the labeled expiration date.
The best defense to spending a lot of money on medications
is to live a healthy lifestyle that reduces that risk you’ll need expensive drugs.
What you send through your body systems is your choice and responsibility, but
you also own the outcomes. Health is a choice, by and large, so do your best to
maintain it.