When I was in pharmacy school I read a study done for the military on expiration dates, they assayed common drugs at their expiration date for the amount of active ingredient. Their results showed that at expiration most drugs were still at full strength or had not lost a significant amount of potency to have a effect on treatment. Most drugs are somewhat super potent (a bit above stated strength) so that has some effect on potency at expiration date.

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Originally posted by 12131:

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Originally posted by LS1 GTO:

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Originally posted by 12131:
"Expiration Date" on everything that we use/take/eat is a myth.

I have one one word for that myth - "milk"

Nope, sorry, still myth. Milk expires today. I can still drink it a few days later without getting sick.

Yeah, as long as it passes the smell test, I'll drink milk long past its "expiration" date.

The issue on this is totally and completely data analysis. Nothing to do with milk. For the mfg. to change an expiration date they have to conduct studies that map its effectiveness. The same as they do initially. The incentive for that is '0'. There have been a number of studies on this (you can search) and mostly what they find is a gradual decline , versus a binary good to no good. And in a number of recent situations the FDA has extended the life of drugs in short supply (example epi pens) when data was made avialable. So if I was dying I'd get the drug before it expires. but if that wasn't around I'd just use the expired one. There are a very few examples of drugs that age poorly and go from helpful to nasty over time. Generally those are described in the package insert.

Per my family doctor, yes. He said that the military ignores dates. The medicines only lose a little bit of potency.

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Originally posted by Wolfpacker:
Per my family doctor, yes. He said that the military ignores dates. The medicines only lose a little bit of potency.

Some lose potency faster than others after the expiration date. Most lose a small amount over time. But, The other big thing that effects this over time, is where/how they are stored.....cool/dry place or hot or humid environment makes a difference as well. The medicine cabinet in your bathroom that gets hot/steamy isn't exactly the ideal place to store medicine (for example).

My kidney stone doc said it's ok to keep left over pain killer pills just in case.

For those of you who are obsessed with the capitalist evils of 'big Pharma':

https://www.cbs8.com/article/n...08-ad33-910968abb04f

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Pharmaceutical companies do have postive qualities. However, there is no doubt in my mind that these companies are extremely profit driven. The argument that they are merely recouping their research costs through their drug pricing is a myth. The companies answer to their shareholders.

yes definitely. profit over anything.

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Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
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Pharmaceutical companies do have postive qualities. However, there is no doubt in my mind that these companies are extremely profit driven. The argument that they are merely recouping their research costs through their drug pricing is a myth. The companies answer to their shareholders.

Every publicly traded company is profit driven. However, it is extremely expensive to get a drug to market, the FDA process is pretty extensive and less than 1 in 100 drugs that go through the process make it.

Just a word of caution. Sometimes drugs do expire or significantly weaken. One of my sons is on both Singulair and Flovent to control asthma. Apparently over the last few months his asthma had been getting progressively worse, though he did not tell me. Turns out both medications were well past expiration dates.

We got him back on fresh stock and the problem went away.

I am still keeping the old stuff as backup come the zombie apocalypse. But I'm making sure what he uses in new.

I cannot address esoteric items like blood as to how long something is good, but in the matter of food my college days tell me there are three types of food.

When the food tastes good, it is safe. When there is no flavor to the food, it is safe but ready to go bad. If the food is bitter, best not to swallow.

I do have some drugs that are very old and I find no lapse in potency.