While bearing the above points in mind, it is useful to look at the results of the SLEP program to help us make our own decisions about the drugs in our cabinet. Related: Top 6 Most Dangerous Medicines For People Over 40 Are You Taking Any of These? What Can We Learn From the SLEP Program? In these cases, it is best to be safe and to discard the medication safely, rather than risk potential harmful effects.
These can be indications that the medication has been exposed to moisture, heat or cold, or some other storage factor that has had an effect on its stability. The “Odd-looking” MedicineĪny medication that looks “odd”, whether the texture looks strange, the color has changed or it looks unusually cloudy, or looks different to normal in any other way, should NOT be taken, even if it is still within its expiration date. Vitamin K and Vitamin A are the most sensitive to external factors (like temperature, oxygen, humidity and light) and the most likely to degrade over time. It’s not a good idea to use vitamins after their expiration date, not because they are likely to do you serious harm, but because the stability of vitamins in tablet form is limited and research has shown these ingredients decompose quickly. As safety is not guaranteed past the expiration date of the product, it is important to adhere to expiration dates for injectable medications. This is because they contain preservatives to ensure no bacteria grow in the medication, as it would be dangerous for us to inject ourselves with medication contaminated with bacteria. These should never be used past their expiration date. Injectable DrugsĬertain medications, including insulin and some hormonal treatments, may be prescribed in a liquid form for you to inject at home. Related: What Really Happens When You Take Antibiotics After Their Expiration Date #2. Taking antibiotics that have reduced efficacy from aging is also likely to lead to antibiotic resistant infections. This group includes insulin, heart medications, and antibiotics, amongst others.
#Shelf life of doxycycline full#
If we take a headache pill, and it is only 70% effective, it doesn’t matter too much.įor other drugs, it is more important that we receive the full dose, at full efficacy, every time we take it. Some drugs are more important than others. There are several groups of medications where exceeding the stated expiration date should be avoided wherever possible. Are There Medicines Which Should Never Be Used Past Their Expiration Date? They may still be safe and effective for years after their expiration date, but equally, they may be ineffective or, worse, unsafe. So for most products, the research never gets done. In fact, focusing on extending the licensed shelf-lives of their products would draw their attention away from more important work, like developing new and better drugs. The manufacturer has nothing to gain from doing this extra research. Unless someone does the clinical research to test the drug five or ten years after its manufacture, we have no way of knowing for certain whether the medication is still effective, or whether there are any dangerous effects of the product aging. Related: Remove These 14 Things from Your Medicine Cabinet Immediately Does This Mean Drugs Are Dangerous After Their Expiration Date? Equally, it is a workable period of time in the manufacturer’s research and development timescale. This is considered a good shelf life for the immediate customer of the manufacturer (pharmacies and hospitals, who don’t want stock going out of date on the shelves). Many manufacturers choose a period of two or three years when testing the shelf life of their products. Once the drug is licensed, all batches of that drug will be assigned an expiration date based on the date of manufacture and the approved shelf life. When a manufacturer proposes a drug for licensing by the FDA, they have to demonstrate that the product is stable, safe and effective for a specific period of time after it is produced.
So what does that mean for the expiration dates printed on the drugs in your cabinet? How Are Expiration Dates Calculated? Many were found to be safe and effective long past their licensed expiration date, and had their shelf life extended for military and emergency use. Yet in 1986, the US government established the Shelf Life Extension Program (SLEP), in collaboration with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to investigate and extend the shelf life of drugs commonly stockpiled for use in the military. The implication is that we should discard the medicines after that date. We do not advocate for the use of medications outside their formal licensing and hold no liability for the consequences this may lead to.īy law, an expiration date (or expiry date) must be printed on the packaging of all perishable goods, indicating the date up to which the manufacturer guarantees that the medication will be “safe and effective”. Editor’s Note: This article is for information purposes only.
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