Sir:
For the survivalist planner determining actual prescription drug shelf lives is a critical subject. Yet little discussion or research has been submitted survival web sites.
The following are some concise and factual sources with information on this critical survival planning subject.
Congressional investigation: Extending The Shelf Life of Prescription Drugs
Military Stockpiles ‘Expired’ Drugs
From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Drugs may outlast label date
Many Medicines Are Potent Years Past Expiration Dates (a Wall Street Journal article, re-posted by The End Times Report)From Associated Content: Drug Expiration Dates: How They Benefit the Pharmaceutical Companies
Additional sources are welcomed. Regards, – Sam A.
JWR Replies: This topic was covered fairly well in SurvivalBlog in 2006, but it bears re-visiting. Expiry dates marked on both prescription and non-prescription medicines are very conservative, for two reasons: 1.) Legal Liability, and 2.) Profit. By having early expiries, the pharmaceutical companies sell more drugs (replacing “expired” stocks), which means more profit.
Tetracycline is one drug that has often been cited as being unsafe when out-of-date, but that reputation has largely been overcome by events. As it was explained to me by by a SurvivalBlog reader that is a doctor in New Zealand, in the 1980s tetracycline had an unstable composition. It broke down 6-to-12 months post-expiry date and became potentially toxic from the degradation products of the binder. But since late-1980s, the new binders have been much more stable.
This letter to SurvivalBlog from 2006 is worthy of re-posting:
Sir:
Regarding your blog entry on the subject of prescription medications, I wish to provide you with information regarding expiration dates: I work for a pharmaceutical company. While profit is a reason why expiration dates can be conservative, it is not due to “planned obsolescence.”Here is the way things work in the U.S.: drug companies are required to put an expiration date on all drugs. Companies are required to prove to the FDA that the drugs will remain safe and effective through the expiration date on the drug (when stored as described on the label). Generating that proof is expensive, and it gets more expensive the farther the expiration date is from the date of manufacture. So the drug companies don’t want to spend money on expiration date studies (known in the industry as “stability studies”) any further in the future than is necessary, but must spend money on stability studies (at a minimum) that will avoid an expiration date that is too close to the date of manufacture (defined as expiration dates that could be reached prior to the drug being sold, or would cause customers to avoid the purchase of drugs that will soon expire).
What does that mean for consumers who want to store drugs beyond the expiration dates? There is not one answer for all drugs. Some drugs are truly ineffective or unsafe very soon after their expiration dates. Others can be almost “as good as new” for decades after the expiration dates have passed. Thanks for the great novel, and a great blog. – Mr. Pharmacopoeia