I have tons of old medications from prescriptions that I never finished, or giant Costco bottles of Advil etc. A doctor that I know told me that the expiration dates mean nothing and that they are just Big Pharma’s way to insert some planned obsolescence into their products.
Is this true? If not, what actually happens to the medications after their expiration dates?
In: Chemistry
Companies are required to perform stability testing as part of the registration process and on an ongoing basis for their production runs. From their point of view it just doesn’t make sense to test things for long periods of time as there’s no financial incentive to do so. So, in effect, when they put a shelf life on a drug they’re saying that that’s as far as we’ve tested it’s stability so there’s no guarantee beyond that time point. It’s important to note that the shelf life also assumes certain storage conditions. i.e. a sealed container sitting at or near room temperature. Stuff stored open or in humid/hot conditions or stored in sunlight may not have the same shelf life.
As for what happens to drugs to cause degradation it can be any number of things. It may chemically break down into smaller molecules via oxidation, hydrolysis, UV light exposure, etc… or it can combine with excipients (the non active ingredient portion of the medicine) to form a new molecule. Either route can create substances which are more potent, less potent, or even non-active for it’s intended purpose. Companies are also required to evaluate these break down products within the shelf life period to make sure that nothing unsafe is generated. Some drugs may also be perfectly stable under reasonable storage conditions and be good for their intended purpose indefinitely. It all depends on the drug chemistry, what excipients are used and how it’s stored.
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