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The 'Open Secret' About Drug Expiration Dates

Pharmacists who cringe when they have to toss expensive drugs once they expire may be interested to hear this drug dump may be unnecessary—and may be a contributing factor to big waste in the medical industry (estimated to be $765 billion a year), as well as the overall high costs of US health care. Per an article co-published by NPR and ProPublica, the term "expiration date" may be a misleading one, as the authors note the dates given to drugs are just the FDA and pharma companies' guarantee of how long the drugs will work (generally two to three years), not a definitive statement that they won't work past those dates.

 The article documents the work of two researchers, Lee Cantrell and Roy Gerona, who ran tests on drugs found in a pharmacy closet: 14 different types of compounds, including painkillers, stimulants, and antihistamines, between 28 and 40 years past their expiration dates.

Read the full story on Newser.com

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