Does No-Doz expire?

Factual Questions
1

While digging around in the basement for my copy of A Game of Thrones (found it!), I came across an old bottle of No-Doz (caffeine 200mg), which judging by when I last used No-Doz must be somewhere around 15 years old give or take a couple of years. Yet there doesn’t seem to be any sort of expiration date on the bottle. Does this stuff expire? If so, would they be just ineffective (or less effective) or have some other sort of effect?

Few things. I am not asking if I should take these old pills. I do not intend to take these old pills. I am not going to give these pills to anyone else to take. If this question still falls too much into the “medical advice” category, I understand if a mod wishes to close it.

2

I checked my No-Doz and it has a two year expiration date.

3

Ah, so the stuff does expire. Wonder why they didn’t put a date on the bottle back when mine was made.

Anyway, thanks for the info.

4

I checked mine I bought it in July of 2010 and it says EXP Aug 2012

Now I don’t know if it actually doesn’t work after two years. Considering how cheap it is and yours is 15 years old, I’d toss it

5

Expiration dates sometimes have nothing to do with how long it truly lasts, but how long they want to test it. If they say it lasts 10 years, they need the data to back that up. Easier to just pick a more reasonable date (with the added benefit of selling more to people expired medicine).

6

Was there a point at which OTC drugs were required to be given expiration dates? I know that I’ve seen an expiration date on a prescription product of 11/1990, but don’t have any experience with old OTC drugs.

7

My guess is that 15 years ago, the expiration date was put only on the outer box, and only more recently have they also put it on the bottle.

8

Nitpick for clarity: It’s not “how long they want to test it”, it’s how long the regulatory agency (such as the FDA) in the countries in which they want to sell the drug requires it to be tested, which it typically on the order of 3 years for initial approval. Companies have no interest in testing a day longer than required because it costs a fortune and no one is making them do it.

The drug is stable and safe in the timeframe listed on the bottle/package (barring the rare weird situations that could lead to a recall or something), it’s just that after that, no one knows what happens because no one has ever bothered to look. No data means no conclusions can be reached. Could be safe, could simply not work anymore or could kill you. Obviously not a time bomb; expiration on Aug 2012 doesn’t mean it’s ineffective or toxic on Sept 1, but who knows what it’s like Oct 1, or Jan 1 2013, or 2014 or…