How long are prescription meds good? (1 Viewer)

[Robert_Z]

My friend wants to take some medication (ranitidine) that has been in the medicine cabinet since June 2000. In general, what is the shelf life for medication such as this?

 

[Gerald LaFrance]

Probally not that long But I know for SURE you SHOULDNT keep medicines in the medicine cabinet if its in the bathroom.

 

[Ryan Wright]

The expiration date should be printed on the label.

Regardless, this stuff is long since expired. Most prescription drugs expire after 1 year. Get rid of it.

Gerald: Huh?

 

[Leila Dougan]

The high humidity of most bathrooms can interfere with the drug's properties, often changing the strength. This, of course, goes for ALL drugs, not just prescription ones.

 

[Brian Perry]

While I don't know about ranitidine, I read a study in the Wall Street Journal about a year ago that said that prescription medicines are safe long past their normal one-year expiration date. In fact, I believe the efficacy of many drugs was still 90% after five years. (And rarely, if ever, does a medicine go "bad" -- it just loses its potency.) The main reason for putting an expiration date of one-year is to benefit the drug companies who naturally want you to buy more product. The armed services are currently examining this closely, as there are literally billions of dollars of medicines nearing "expiration" that they would normally throw out that could perhaps safely be extended.

I'm not suggesting you self-prescribe medicine (or use someone else's), just stating that the one-year expiration date is fairly arbitrary.

 

[Jon_Are]

I agree with Brian.

(I'm an RN)

Jon

 

[eric holm]

I've had this conversation with a good friend who's a pharmacist.

His response is that it's required for FDA approval. Since they don't want to have the product in testing for a long period of time, they'll test it for a couple years or so and if it's still fine, just throw that date on the label.

It's really probably good for much longer. In fact, I have an inhaler that I use very infrequently that officially expired in 1997. My doc told me to keep using it until it's gone or doesn't seem to work.

Obviously there's exceptions to everything. I know for sure that there are some medicines that do become useless in far less time (I'm using one that has a 3 month life). Also, I'm pretty sure if anything was for something very serious, I'd closely adhere to the exp date.

 

[Robert_Z]

Thanks for all that feedback. My friend decided not to take the meds, and all is well.

 

[JasonMC]

I am a Doctor of Pharmacy and the one year expiration is put in place by the dispensing pharmacy. Most of the time, medications expiration dates are longer than the one year given by the pharmacy. One year expiration dates are placed because prescriptions expire in one year from the time they are written (except for Schedule 3-5 meds which are 6 months).
An expiration date merely means that 90% of the drug is acting the way it was intended (dissolution, absorption, action, possible side effects). Beyond that, the action of the drug is not studied. The efficacy of the drug will decrease after this time. If it's an emergency type medication, like albuterol inhaler, it is important to not use old one's, they may not work.
If the original medication is to expire before one year, the pharmacy is required to label the expiration date.
In this case, if the Zantac doesn't work, no major harm done.