{"id":19823,"date":"2022-08-11T10:21:59","date_gmt":"2022-08-11T15:21:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepapergown.zocdoc.com\/?p=19823"},"modified":"2026-02-05T04:44:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T09:44:39","slug":"do-prescriptions-expire-what-you-should-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/guides\/do-prescriptions-expire-what-you-should-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Do Prescriptions Expire? What You Should Know"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you read the label on a medication bottle, you\u2019re likely looking for a few key things, like the dosage or side effects. The expiration date, however, is not quite so intuitive or straightforward.\u00a0<\/span>If you\u2019ve wondered if your medications<\/a> expire, yes, they do. Pharma companies include an expiration date on your prescriptions for a reason, but it\u2019s not like being in danger of drinking spoiled milk or eating bad meat. Read on to find out why your Rx labels put a time limit on your meds.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Who determines drug expiration dates?<\/h2>\n

In 1979, the Food and Drug Administration <\/span>began requiring<\/span><\/a> that pharmaceutical companies label all commercial drugs, both prescriptions and over-the-counter medications, with an expiration date. This date is supposed to signal the point at which a drug is no longer potent enough to provide the desired effects. In some cases, it can also signal that the drug is no longer safe to take.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While the FDA mandates the use of expiration dates, it doesn\u2019t oversee how they\u2019re determined. That means pharmaceutical companies are on their own to figure out a drug’s shelf life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How do these companies determine expiration dates?<\/h2>\n

Before a company rolls out a drug, it conducts rounds of stability testing. Christie Kunde is a Phoenix-based pharmacist who has worked as a quality control chemist in the pharmaceutical industry. She says during these studies, chemists store drugs in various conditions and put them through tests to determine their safety and potency over time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The goal is to see how products react to variables like light, temperature and humidity. Companies typically test products for one to five years, which means that most medication expiration dates fall within this timeline.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So what does it mean if a medication\u2019s expired?<\/h2>\n

Since pharmaceutical companies only spend so much time testing drugs, they actually don\u2019t often get \u201ctrue\u201d expiration dates right. For instance, if a company stops testing after five years and the drug still has full potency, there\u2019s no official word on whether it would also be good in ten years. The expiration date doesn’t necessarily mean that a drug has gone bad \u2014 it\u2019s just the last date at which the manufacturer guarantees the labeled potency and safety.<\/span><\/p>\n

A <\/span>2006 study<\/span><\/a> of 122 drugs tested by the US government showed that two-thirds of expired medications were stable (i.e., hadn\u2019t lost potency) every time a sample of stockpiled medications was tested. This often meant manufacturers could reasonably extend the shelf life of drugs by four years on average. In one <\/span>2012 study<\/span><\/a>, researchers tested 14 different active ingredients that had expired between 28 and 40 years prior and found that 12 of them had retained 90 percent of their potency.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet hospitals and pharmacies are required by law to throw out expired medication, which means a lot of money ends up in the trash. Various organizations, activists and researchers have called to <\/span>extend the shelf life<\/span><\/a> on certain products to mitigate waste, but for now, the established protocols remain in place.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What medications become toxic after expiration? And what happens if you take expired medication?<\/h2>\n

In most cases, Kunde says expired drugs aren\u2019t actually harmful, just less effective.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While solid drugs, such as tablets and capsules, are typically safe and effective past their expiration date, drugs that exist in a solution or are reconstituted as a suspension (meaning you mix a powder with a liquid to create a liquid medication) <\/span>may lose potency more quickly<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Experts say it\u2019s especially important to look at the expiration dates for these types of prescriptions:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n