when a medicine expires, is it true that it has a 6 month extension for its potency?

Answer 1

The expiration dates tend to short. Drugs are only required to be tested for stability for a certain period of time. Most expiration dates are from those tests. Pharma views it as a liability issue. The want to have an expiration date in which the know the drug is still good. Most drugs when they degrade are benign, but some like tetracycline turn toxic. Bad Tetracycline has a distinct smell.

Answer 2

I also read a study which also found > 90% potency 10 years after expiry date (there are exceptions - insulin, liquid antibiotics and tetracyclines). The US Navy had estimated they wasted millions from throwing out expired medicines. When the study authors asked the pharma company why they had such a short expiry date the company stated that it was important that consumers keep up with the latest packaging.

Answer 3

I heard a report on NPR Radio that a group at Harvard Medical did a chemical assay on a collection of medicines that were each over 10 years past the expiration and none of them showed a decrease in potency.

Answer 4

The potency of a medicine drops with time. The prescribed validity / expiration of a medicine is the time it still is potent to cure ailments. beyond the expiration period, the quality of the medicine deteriorates to the extent that it can't cure a sickness anymore. Medicines 6 months beyond the expiry date may not be potent enough to cure sick people. It may even be bad for our health.

Answer 5

usually meds will decrease their potency after the expiry date therefore it will not be as effective best thing to do is to return it to your pharmacy for disposal and get a new Rx