What happens to the medicine when it expires?

 

You have a severe headache. Aspirin or ibuprofen drugs are being searched all over the house. While searching, I found a one page tablet in the drawer of your table. In the context of Bangladesh, let's take it as a drug called Napa of the paracetamol family. You are a very conscious person. So he went to see the expiration date of the medicine before eating. But there is danger. The drug expires a few months ago. You must not take expired medicines. Usually it is not right to take any medicine without the advice of a doctor, you will not have the courage to take expired medicine there.

But, what if you were taking expired drugs? Could your life be in danger? Or the reason you are going to take medicine, the headache would be gone? Or did nothing good or bad happen to your body? There are these questions. But have you ever wondered how the medicine expires? That is, what happens to the capsule or tablet after a certain period of time that it is no longer fit to eat?

Image Source: IQ Pharma

Medical treatment is quite expensive in our country. Not just our country. The price of medicine and medicine is quite high in African countries besides the whole world, and especially in our Asian countries. Many times it is not even possible to get the necessary materials to save lives. But despite such a situation, a lot of drugs in the world are wasted just because they are not used in time. With that in mind, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conducted a study at the request of the US military. The army sent them a large consignment of expensive drugs, which contained a variety of drugs that had been canceled due to expiration.

In fact, the army has to save a huge amount of expired drugs every year and destroy those drugs worth crores of rupees after a certain period of time. So the main points of this study were two: saving government money and examining the effectiveness of drugs stored in the army to see if they could be used in the future. 300 lots were tested under this study, where there were more than 120 drugs. Research has shown that hundreds of over-the-counter medications are still 90% effective. They are usable even after 15 years of expiration!

Since then, there have been more such studies, and the results of those studies have been the same as before. Therefore, in 1986, the FDA introduced the Self-Life Extension Program to see if the expiration date for standard drugs could be extended. And the results of this program are incredible. They have found evidence that many types of drugs can be extended, and based on these results, the validity of various drugs has also been increased.

Billions of dollars worth of drugs have to be destroyed after a certain period of time; Image Credit: MLive

So, if this study brings such results, then where is the need to mention the term? In fact, the main reason behind the expiration date on the medicine is beyond our knowledge. A law passed in 1989 required pharmaceutical companies to give their drugs an expiration date. Until this date, companies will be responsible for the safety and effectiveness of their drugs. If you take the medicine after that time, the effectiveness and complete safety may not be available. However, this period does not mean that the drug will be completely lost or completely lost its effectiveness after the day mentioned on the body.

Therefore, the day written on the packet of the medicine has less to do with the loss of the medicine. Note that the batch number of the drug is given on the packet in addition to the expiration date. And the term is spoken, roughly 12-60 months from the date of creation. In this case, the company will take all kinds of liability on the 6 batches of drugs up to the written term.

Now the question may arise. Since manufactured drugs are known to be good even after expiration, what is the harm if companies increase the level of expiration a bit? The answer to this question can be twofold:

1. Business thinking; If the duration of the drug is short. However, their stock will run out quickly. Because, when one batch expires, new medicine will be needed. Therefore, this issue is going to cut the drug and increase the profit.

2. Research; Suppose a company gives them a drug for a period of 5 years. But within a year, they discovered a new formula to make the drug stronger. But they do not have the opportunity to apply the new formula to extend the tenure of their latest batch.

To that end, the FDA recommends that pharmaceutical companies use a reasonable amount of time.

US Food and Drug Administration; Image Credit: The Verge

However, there are many other types of drugs that do not follow this rule. Such as: bottled medicine, eye or nose drops, powder and skin medicine etc. These are usually written 1 month after opening or 4 weeks after use. Because, after opening any medicine bottle or dropper, the manufacturing company has no responsibility on it. And in general, the effectiveness of these drugs depends on the method of light, heat, humidity and preservation. Therefore, 1 month after opening, the effectiveness of the drug may decrease. And then it is reasonable not to get the fruit if consumed. Again, 2-3 weeks after opening the eye or nose drop, bacteria can attack it. So they are encouraged not to use them after a long time.

It is not advisable to take such syrups after a long time; Image Source: Parents

So, can we take expired medicine if we want? The FDA says no. That cannot be done. Because you do not know how the medicine came to you. It is not possible for you to understand with the naked eye where it was stored or whether there was any change in the medicine after it had expired. Also, if you take other drugs after the expiration date, including sensitive drugs and antibiotics, there is a possibility that they will not work. Then the medicine will not be useful in the treatment of your disease and your disease may be life threatening. Therefore, as a precautionary measure, the FDA advises against taking drugs for complex diseases after the expiration date.

In our country, medicines like paracetamol, antihistamines, ischemiaprazole or ibuprofen are available in expired condition in everyone's home. With care we dispose of or discard those drugs. In our country's drug stores, unscrupulous traders are sometimes caught selling expired drugs. Those drugs are confiscated and destroyed. The same thing happens in hospitals; There are numerous medicines in stock to ensure adequate treatment. And they are being destroyed after the expiration date. Thinking about these aspects, Marshall Allen wrote an analytical article in the journal Propablika on July 17, 2016. There he wrote,

The FDA knows that most drugs remain effective even after expiration. But despite this information, hospitals and pharmacies have to destroy expired drugs every year. But they do not consider how important and expensive these drugs are.

In this article, he also talks about an eye-popping incident.

A box was left in a black cupboard around 1989. There were several types of drugs. It was found 30 years later. Everyone thought the medicine in the box was spoiled or poisoned. Lee Contrell, an employee of the California Poison Control System, could not resist the urge to try the drugs. He called Roy Gerna, who studied chemistry at the University of California. Roy Gerna grew up in the Philippines. As a child, he observed that people there were recovering from taking expired drugs. The two were surprised to see the results of the test together. Even after 30 years, every expired medicine was still suitable for treatment. And the ingredients of the medicine are still appropriate!

Lee Contrell, an employee of the California Poison Control System; Image Source: Sandy Huffaker for ProPublica

Seeing such research and results, everyone is now looking to the FDA. They may be able to consider extending the expiration date by testing drugs through their 'Self Life Extension Program'. As a result, just as the precious money of every country will be saved, the treatment for the drug crisis in Asia and Africa will not stop.

This article is in english language. It is about medicine and the myth about the expired date. This article also explains behind history, research, risk factors, and real-time data about medicine expired dates. Necessary references have been hyperlinked inside.

Feature Image Source: VOX