Posted by university on April 26, 2005, at 0:26:32
In reply to Re: Expired Prozac, posted by Mr.Scott on April 25, 2005, at 21:33:42
> The military did a study on this very topic. The length of the study was 9 years and then it ran out of money. During that period of time almost no drug had any change in potency either over the counter or prescription. Antibiotics, antifungals and anti-virals were the exception.
>
> ScottThanks, Scott, and everyone. Scott: do you have any information that might lead me to the results of the study; were they ever published--even partially--anywhere?
I have long suspected that drug expiration dates were largely a convenient way for drug companies and others to make even more money. Consumers will generally ignore such corporate "warnings," except when it comes to drugs, a world about which the average consumer knows very, very little. I mean, it surprises me how many people look at a typical American drug store aisle--say the allergy/cold aisle--and do not realize that of all of those hundreds of products--of all of those ostensible "choices," only a few drugs actually exist. Indeed, only a few drug *types* exist in such an aisles.
So when a manufacturer states "Expiration date XX/XX on a package of diphenhydramine, the unwitting consumer who bought it once for Tommy's sniffles and used one dose will likely--even gladly--buy a fresh package the next time s/he needs it. Ditto Rx drugs.
I guess it takes consumers forced for whatever reason(s) (in our cases, depression and its oft-required trial-and-error cycles) to actually learn something about drugs to begin to see things for what they are.
I was just lamenting the drug companies' tendency to make more and more drugs OTC (e.g., Nicorette, Claritin, NSAIDs, acid inhibitors) in an attempt to make more money (as many consumers would pay, perhaps, $10 for a 30-day supply of Claritin under insurance, but now must pay up to $50 for the same amount) the other day. My colleague, who is a smart person, said "yeah, but they have to wait a certain amount of time before they can go OTC..." In other words, she was confusing the patent-expiration process with drugs suddenly becoming "safe enough" to be OTC.
Don't get me wrong, I rather like having more of a variety of OTC drugs--I just don't like the reasons (I believe) they've become OTC.
Sorry for the nonsequiter/rant :) Just a pet peeve of mine...
poster:university
thread:489291
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050423/msgs/489616.html