RE: [e-drug] Can expired drug still be used? (7)

["Sukkari, Sana" <ssukkari@jbmh.com>]

E-DRUG: Can expired drug still be used? (7)
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dear E-druggers,

The scenario presented below, with respect, make no sense.  

Developing and even developed countries are sometimes provided with short dated medications for marketing purposes NOT BECAUSE THE DRUG IS NO LONGER
EFFECTIVE OR SAFE for appropriate USE.  In the developing countries,
pharmacists can not sell drugs beyond its cited expiry date even though
the cited expiry date has nothing to do with real chemical degradation
or instability. In general, money and marketing shares are the real
reason behind a cited expiry date.  

To those who can authorized expiry drugs for use in the
developed/developing countries, please use references where this issue
was examined.  Save money for your country and save the environment from
dengerous waste. The FDA 5 year beyond the cited expiry date is good for
the majority of drugs and chemicals that were stored under reasonable
conditions. 

Please obtain the Medical Letter, October 28, 2002 to learn more about
this topic or visit www.fda.gov search 2002 FDA science forum for more
information. 

Sana R. Sukkari
Pharmacist
Ontario, Canada

-----Original Message-----
From: e-drug-bounces@healthnet.org [mailto:e-drug-bounces@healthnet.org]
On Behalf Of Kibumba George
Sent: Wednesday, September 22, 2004 10:07 AM
To: e-drug@healthnet.org
Subject: [e-drug] Can expired drug still be used? (5)

E-DRUG: Can expired drug still be used? (5)
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Dear E-drug Users,
 
To leave the issue of whether an expired item is fit for use or not to
the discretion of technical, informed people is always good: People who
appreciate the chemistry of the pharmaceutical under consideration...
 
Generalizing that you can use expired solid dose forms like tablets, six
months or one year from the date of expiry isn't exactly right.  It is
indeed not only misleading, but is dangerous to society.  Let us take
two extremes.
 
First consider nitroglycerin, an ester, when it expires, following long
periods of exposure to the environment, it will be expired, truly.  Why
should you use such?  On the other hand, you may have stock of
well-stored nitroglycerin and you have a patient who is in agony and
needs it and there is neither any in stock nor is there money to import
some.  Why don't you use the expired one?
 
Second in Uganda, in a major hospital, we had suxamethonium that
expired, several months before the expiry date on the container.  The
package of this medicine, used in general anesthesia, had been stored in
a warehouse that was close to an active autoclave for a few months, and
therefore expired ahead of the expiry date.
And during theatre operation, the drug delivered false hope.  Surgeons
thought pharmacists where not helping them because they picked
suxamethonium that was hardly useful from the hospital warehouse... 
 
>From these two extremes, once expired it is to be discarded, and get
new items.  After technical consideration of the chemistry of the
chemical in question, and when there is nothing to use--for a number of
reasons--an expired item may be better than nothing. But use your
professionals before making an informed decision as some times expired
items could be exactly dangerous.  How about manufacturers making
statements in product inserts to the effect of whether it is safe to use
their products once expired?
 
George Kibumba, MPS(Uganda).
Msc. Student,
Pharmaceutical Services and Medicines Control, University of Bradford,
Flat A3, Room 1, Wardley House, Little Horton Lane, Bradford, West
Yorkshire, BD5 0AE
E-mail: kibumba@yahoo.com
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