E-drug: The use of expired e-drugs
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I am a final year pharmacy student doing my dissertation about the
clinical use of expired drugs on developing countries. I spent time
in rural Tanzania during July and August and was often faced with the
situation of dispensing expired medicines or not using anything.
Could I have some feed back from e-druggers on the scale of this
problem.
1) Are expired drugs an issue around the world, and is it worth
researching into their safe use?
2) Has any research been carried out in individual drugs to
determine whether they become toxic after they reach their
expiry dates or just sub-potent?
I am only researching into drugs on the Essential Drugs List.
All help would be gratefully recieved!
Naomi Adams
Pharmacy Student
Welsh School of Pharmacy, CARDIFF, Wales, UK
Email: AdamsNR@cf.ac.uk
[Obviously drugs do not become toxic on the expiry date, but deteriorate
slowly, depending on the product, formulation and storage conditions.
Some drugs may become toxic (eg tetracyclines), others may become less
potent (antibiotics, vitamins etc).
The expiry date is an administrative reminder that the company (and the
regulatory authority) are reasonable sure that the product, if at least
stored under 'normal' conditions, should still be of good quality.
Obviously, if a patient needs a certain essential drug, and we only have
expired drugs, it would probably be a less worse option to supply such a
drug rather than giving nothing.
Drugs beyond their expiry date could theoretically be tested again, and
be given a new expiry date. But is it worth the effort? Shouldn't we spend
our energy on improving drug supply systems, and prevent drugs to expire?
That would help the Tanzanian Health Centre much more in the long term.
BTW, why does that health centre have only expired drugs? Do they get maybe
(old) donations? WHO has a Guideline for drug donations which recommends
that drugs should still have one year of shelflife upon arrival.
Wilbert Bannenberg, E-drug co-moderator
Email: WilbertBannenberg@compuserve.com
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