Posted on 07/20/2017 7:35:05 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The box of prescription drugs had been forgotten in a back closet of a retail pharmacy for so long that some of the pills predated the 1969 moon landing. Most were 30 to 40 years past their expiration dates — possibly toxic, probably worthless.
But to Lee Cantrell, who helps run the California Poison Control System, the cache was an opportunity to answer an enduring question about the actual shelf life of drugs: Could these drugs from the bell-bottom era still be potent?
Cantrell called Roy Gerona, a University of California, San Francisco, researcher who specializes in analyzing chemicals. Gerona had grown up in the Philippines and had seen people recover from sickness by taking expired drugs with no apparent ill effects.
“This was very cool,” Gerona says. “Who gets the chance of analyzing drugs that have been in storage for more than 30 years?”
The age of the drugs might have been bizarre, but the question the researchers wanted to answer wasn’t. Pharmacies across the country — in major medical centers and in neighborhood strip malls — routinely toss out tons of scarce and potentially valuable prescription drugs when they hit their expiration dates.
Gerona and Cantrell, a pharmacist and toxicologist, knew that the term “expiration date” was a misnomer. The dates on drug labels are simply the point up to which the Food and Drug Administration and pharmaceutical companies guarantee their effectiveness, typically at two or three years. But the dates don’t necessarily mean they’re ineffective immediately after they “expire” — just that there’s no incentive for drugmakers to study whether they could still be usable.
ProPublica has been researching why the U.S. health care system is the most expensive in the world. One answer, broadly, is waste....
(Excerpt) Read more at propublica.org ...
Typed too fast. The word “nearly” in the next to last paragraph should read “NEWLY”.
“Then they should BE certified...” (Omitted the “BE”).
My ex-FIL was a pharm sales rep and managed to convince his company to donate expired product to a mission that delivered the medicine to third world communities.
It worked out well for a few years until the lawyers decided that “expired” was a legal liability and cut off the supply.
bookmark
I recall the local cartoonist in Minneapolis - Guindon (in the 70’s I suppose). He would do those one-panel cartoons. One was the guy in city hall, all dressed up in his winter clothing, but with about 20 different milk products strapped to his body.
“If my street doesn’t get plowed soon..... all of these products expire TOMORROW!”
I don’t throw expired drugs away. Awhile back hubby got the flu. I dug through my stash and came up with some Flumadine that was probably close to 10 years old. He took it and bam the next day he was ok.
Amen on the nitro. I have prinzmetal angina. Was having an attack and reached for my nitro. First one didn’t work. I waited and then put a second one under my tongue. Waited. And waited. Finally it worked. When I looked at my script it was 2 months out of date. I stay on it now. Lol
Actually, aspirin is one of those rare exceptions. It becomes toxic when it gets old.
EpiPens are good unless the liquid changes color.
Has ProPublica ever considered that it could have something to do with the U.S. having more lawyers than the rest of the world combined... or are they afraid they could get sued for libel if they mention it?
LOL I'm married and still do the same thing. My wife got used to it to the point I'm the official leftover sniffer.
She figures if I can't stomach it, it must really be off.
tetracycline
Yeah. We have a place for garden extras. We believe dominion over the animals includes caring for them.
I draw the line at coyotes, skunks, rats, gophers, buzzards and snakes though.
Not effectiveness. The expiration date means there is a certain amount of the drug in each capsule. Most drugs are organic compounds that break down into other compounds and thus there is less of the effective drug. If the drug says there is 300 micro grams of the drug then the expiration date is the approximate date when there is less than 300 micro grams in the capsule.
Aspirin does turn into non aspirin. It degrades into acetic acid. Smell the old aspirin, if it smells like vinegar, it’s non aspirin.
My 10 year old hams hanging from my dry goods closet hooks next to the five year provolone cheeses really have no use for expiration dates. My beans, rice, coffee beans, and dried fruits are in containers purged with nitrogen and dissonant.
Dissonant, eh? :)
Auto correct.....dessicant.
Did she grow up in the country? Old food is bait and critters are tomorrows supper. Also one must always make efforts to make sure fats dont go into the septic system.
Me too but Id usually fry it then. Not just to kill any cooties but to re-add flavor to replace any that got washed off.
That is referenced in the article:
One of the plastic boxes is piled with EpiPens — devices that automatically inject epinephrine to treat severe allergic reactions. They run almost $300 each. These are from emergency kits that are rarely used, which means they often expire. Berkowitz counts them, tossing each one with a clatter into a separate container, “… that’s 45, 46, 47 …” He finishes at 50. That’s almost $15,000 in wasted EpiPens alone.In May, Cantrell and Gerona published a study that examined 40 EpiPens and EpiPen Jrs., a smaller version, that had been expired for between one and 50 months. The devices had been donated by consumers, which meant they could have been stored in conditions that would cause them to break down, like a car’s glove box or a steamy bathroom. The EpiPens also contain liquid medicine, which tends to be less stable than solid medications.
Testing showed 24 of the 40 expired devices contained at least 90 percent of their stated amount of epinephrine, enough to be considered as potent as when they were made. All of them contained at least 80 percent of their labeled concentration of medication. The takeaway? Even EpiPens stored in less than ideal conditions may last longer than their labels say they do, and if there’s no other option, an expired EpiPen may be better than nothing, Cantrell says.
pretty sure i read an article a while back that the US military in the 60’s or 70’s did a review of medicine stocks and realised the expiration dates on a lot of them is total BS.
also for some light entertainments...have a look on youtube for the MRE reviews.. particularly stevemre (i think thats his name, search youtube for ‘steve mre’). he is hilarious as he reviews stuff all the way back from ww2. obviously some is unedible but you would be surprised...
remember this ‘lets get this on a tray...NICE’. trust me if you watch 2 or 3 episodes, you too will see the humour in it..
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