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While drug shortages continue over the years, UFC-Que Choisir reveals today that the overwhelming majority of drugs (based on paracetamol or ibuprofen in particular) retain their effectiveness well after the date of expiry date displayed on the boxes. A problematic discrepancy in several ways that Professor Alain Astier, pharmacologist, explains to us.
Should we do without and throw our expired medications in the trash (or return them to the pharmacy)? According to an exclusive test, conducted by UFC-Que Choisir and revealed today, this would not be useful: the vast majority of our medications would remain effective well after the date affixed to the box, without us suspecting it. A reality which raises the question of waste, even as we face numerous shortages.
Medicines effective 30 years after their expiry date!
“In order to assess the relevance of the expiry dates affixed to boxes of medicines by pharmaceutical laboratories, we had a specialized laboratory measure the quantity of active substances present in 30 boxes of tablets, capsules or sachets of paracetamol or ibuprofen, which, according to the manufacturers, is expired” explains the consumer association.
Results ? In 80% of cases, medications contain enough active substance to be considered effective. Furthermore, the results suggest that there is no relationship between the year the drugs expire and the amount of active substance still present. “Proof of this is paracetamol supposed to have expired since 1992 still has… 100% active substance!” supports the investigation.
A waste that poses three problems
Through this survey, the association also demonstrates that this waste is not without consequences, quite the contrary. By parting with medications that are still active, we create three imbalances:
- An economic problem, since this leads to a more rapid renewal of medications which has a cost for the hospital system, health insurance, and for patients. ;
- An environmental problembecause this generates an unnecessary increase in “waste”, partly untreated as part of the medicine collection process.
- And finally a health problem since this is likely to artificially increase the demand for medicines and contribute to shortages or supply tensions, as we recently observed for paracetamol.
The UFC-Que Choisir thus announces that it will contact the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) in order to alert it to the results of its investigation and ask it to change the regulatory framework.
Dates given for regulatory purposes (and not health)
But why are we giving “short” dates when our medicines could be used for years? We asked Professor Alain Astier, pharmacologist, for some insight. According to him, this is a bias that exists at the time of marketing authorization (AMM) of a drug.
“The expiry date of a medicine is an administrative concept. As with all medicines, it is the industry (which requests marketing authorization) which must set rules, such as stability data. If it says “my product is stable for 3 years” according to its own tests, it must provide evidence for its MA, but will not provide any data beyond that. The Medicines Agency then simply validates, and no one asks any more. … Even if we notice after 3 years that 99% of the active ingredient remains.” The date is therefore confirmed.
A bias that continues over time: while most of these drugs have had marketing authorization for 20 or 30 years, the generics that arrive on the market are not going to have fun changing the initial date. “We don’t ask them to change it, and if we’re a little cynical, they have no interest in doing so, to sell their product.”
Can you use expired medicine?
The stability of a drug is therefore generally much greater than that announced. Paracetamol and ibuprofen are stable”like stones.” But they are not the only ones. “A study by the American army which tested medications of all kinds found that in 90% of cases, the expiration times were well beyond the given date. And the literature is full of examples on this subject. evokes the expert.
For the professor, moreover, a medicine as long as it is kept in its packaging and in good storage conditions, does not carry any risk in its use. “They don’t all have the same stability, but it must be said, there will be no problem using a product in the months following its expiration date.”
The need to change your dates
Calling on the Medicines Agency therefore seems necessary in light of these discoveries. “This is all the more critical as today you have shortages, or very expensive drugs, such as anti-cancer drugs at 600 euros per tablet that you cannot afford to waste.” recalls the pharmacologist.
He therefore supports UFC-Que Choisir in his appeal. Extending the dates would be a way to avoid waste and therefore provide better care. Laboratories should also be asked to prove, or use published data to extend the date. “We talk about shortages, but half of the medicines are thrown away under the pretext that they are expired, even though they can still treat patients. There is a real subject to raise, indeed” he concludes.