90 percent of the drugs were still safe and effective long after their expiration date

Drug Expiration Dates

Are the expiration dates on pharmaceu-ticals valid? In 1985, the U.S. military found that the expiration dates on $1 billion worth of their drugs were expir- ing so they decided to test the drugs to determine if the useful life of the drugs could be extended. They found that 90 percent of the drugs were still safe and effective long after their expiration date.

Some officials feel that expiration dates are put on drugs for marketing purposes
and have no bearing on whether a drug is still useable. The company chooses the expiration date, not the FDA. How-ever, FDA warns that the shelf life of drugs that must be refrigerated probably cannot be extended very long.