I hear of groups sending medication that would be tossed because it has expired overseas for people who cannot afford the drugs. If it can be used, why has it “expired”? I.e, if it’s not safe for people here, why is it safe there? Or does it just require more care and examination before using?
From WebMD:
Pharmacies often put their own expiration dates on medication that is much earlier than the manufacturer’s date. Draw your own conclusions.
Hmmm…there oughtta be a law…
I don’t know that this is ‘expired’ medication.
There used to be an active group in California that accepted the leftover AIDS medications from patients who died, and passed them on to other similar patients who were having difficulty purchasing these very expensive meds. But I believe they always screened them to make sure they weren’t expired, and were the proper dosage for the new patient, etc.
I’ve heard that this organization is having troubles lately, since many AIDS patients are living longer, and their source of supply seems to be drying up.
P.S. This isn’t uncommon. Years ago, when my diabetic father died, we gave all his syringes, test strips, etc. to a cousin who was also diabetic. He couldn’t use the insulin (something different) but we were able to donate that to a state hospital that could use it. Given the expense of drugs, it seems foolist to just throw them away when there is someone who can use them!
Millions of dollars worth of drugs are thrown away in the US every year. The chief issue is not expiration (although many “expired”
drugs do get destroyed) but the concern that the drugs may have been tampered with. State and federal laws regulate whether a medication may be returned, repackaged, and re-used, and most places do not allow return of any meds that are not in their original, sealed, tamper-proof packaging.
Perhaps some of our SD pharmacists could talk more elaborately than I on the topic.
It’s a legacy of the cyanide-laced tylenol tampering back in the 70’s or late 80’s.
I find it hard to believe that any reputable group would accept expired medicines to give to patients. Depending on which medication it is, it could lose it’s potency after the expiration date, or in some instances, actually become stronger, so that certain ingredients can reach toxic levels. There was a controversy recently in Uganda where a doctor was in quite a spot of trouble for giving out expired medicines.
Amberlei - t-bonham@scc.net did not say the group gave expired meds.
The original question, however, was about news reports of groups who collect expired meds and ship them overseas. I’ll try to find a cite. It might be that people are just using unused meds and the press report it as expired. But I’m pretty sure they were talking about how lots of meds are tossed by pharmacies, as the post by Attrayant mentioned.