Expired drugs are effective for longer

Expired drugs are effective for longer

07/07/2014

As studies suggest, drugs are much longer effective than indicated by the manufacturers. But there is no guarantee that all ingredients will work after the expiration date. These medicines are therefore - as special waste - disposed of.

End of June and end of December are deadlines
A few days ago, the big mucking started again. Constantly come now tablet packs from the stations of the Charité back to Matthias Nordmann, like the „Berlin morning mail“ reported. He works as a deputy manager in the pharmacy of the hospital in Berlin and must now have cheap and expensive drugs such as infusion solutions or pain drops disposed of - many of them still packed like new. Since last Tuesday began in July, many of the drugs that could have been distributed to patients the day before, to special waste. Nordmann explained that at the end of June and at the end of December, the cut-off dates were reached when most medicines expired. „It hurts to see what is left of garbage“, according to Nordmann „Berlin morning mail“. But the legal situation is like that.

No guarantee of effectiveness
After the expiration date, the drug manufacturers no longer guarantee that all ingredients will work and that the tablets or solutions are still clean. The Charité has to stick to it. But apparently there are other possibilities in some cases. For example, at the end of last year in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania the shelf life expired for a large proportion of the emergency flu medication for 342,000 patients. But a spokesman for the Ministry of Social Affairs told the news agency dpa that the drugs could continue to be used. This would have resulted in tests of the active ingredients.

Studies suggest longer shelf life of the drugs
At the Charité, the expired medicines are collected by a company and burnt. But whether this is always necessary is questionable. For example, let the US regulatory agency investigate whether the expiration dates of drugs can not be extended. Researchers examined there in a study tablets, which had already decayed for decades. The active ingredients were almost completely contained in all, as the newspaper writes. The manufacturers, however, refer to their own, extensive tests on the durability that they must perform before the approval of a drug. The expiry dates are by no means arbitrary.

Check the medicine chest regularly
Thomas Brückner, Head of the Pharmaceuticals Division at the German Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry, said he had to admit that he did not want to sift through his private drug cabinet as often as he had to after expired packs. He would never take a tablet, not even ibuprofen for a headache whose expiration date was exceeded. „There is no guarantee that the medication will continue to work as intended.“, so the pharmacist. Experts recommend that you inspect your own home pharmacy at least once or twice a year and dispose of expired products and those that have already started over six months ago. In addition to bandages, the kit also includes wound disinfectants and remedies for pain, fever, indigestion, abdominal pain, heartburn or diarrhea.

Tests before approval
Before a drug is approved, stability studies, among other things, must be carried out. This simulates three climate zones, with 40 degrees being warm in the stress test. It is examined whether the active substance degrades and whether the „galenic formulation“ remains stable. This refers to the form in which an active substance is packaged. The tests are repeated for the first time after three months and for the last time after 36 months. Then the results are presented to the regulatory authorities, which set the expiration date. But even if durability is not tested beyond the three-year period, there are funds that do not expire until after five years. „But more than five years hardly creates a remedy. For example, interactions with the packaging may occur. And if the drugs store in the bathroom, with damp heat, this accelerates the decay processes“, so Brückner. (Ad)