E-drug: Expired-shelf life medicines (cont)
---------------------------------------------
Dear All,
Douglas argument about possible toxic substanced when drugs
decompose is a sensible one. But it is not so much the risk of
toxicity, but the content of the drug. If you give decomposed
adrenaline, how much should you give, how much active ingredient
is there and what is the role of the decomposed elements? Are
they inactive, a bit active, double-active???
Of course, in real emergencies you give what you got, decomposed or
not, but especially life saving drugs often have a narrow
therapeutic window. I personally would not worry too much about
penicillins or paracetamol if there would be no choice in emergency
situations.
Maybe there is a role for WHO to make a literature search on what
happens to the drugs on their essential drug list when they expire.
Just to be prepared in case of emergencies.
Foppe