Three questions about expired drugs, eight out of ten of which remain largely effective according to a study

A study by UFC-Que Choisir tends to demonstrate that the majority of expired medications remain 90% effective, questions are nevertheless being asked about the use of our medications, starting with knowing what risks there are in ingesting expired medications. Franceinfo takes stock.

Eight out of ten expired drugs remain 90% effective, according to a study by UFC-Que Choisir, published on Thursday, September 19. The association analyzed twenty tablets, capsules or sachets of paracetamol and ten of ibuprofen, whose expiry date had passed. Consumer association denounces “a real environmental, economic and health waste” and announced saisir the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) to ask it to implement a set of measures to limit the waste of medicines.

1How is the expiration date of a medicine determined?

It is the manufacturers, the drug manufacturers, who set this expiry date themselves. Before obtaining the right to put its product on the market, a laboratory must assess the time after which the active ingredient degrades. When the drug is launched, this time may be only a few months. Then, new stability tests are carried out and the expiry date is possibly extended. Today, most drugs are consumable several years after their manufacture. Furthermore, in periods when there are drug shortages, the health authorities (French or European) can ask manufacturers to carry out new tests to extend the expiry period in order to strengthen stocks.

2What are the risks of consuming expired medications?

It depends on the type of medication. According to a pharmacologist contacted by franceinfo, three types of cases arise. Some medications remain effective and safe beyond their expiration date, a bit like yogurts. The manufacturer set this limit because they did not do any longer-term testing. These “safe” medications are generally tablets and capsules rather than sprays and liquids. A second category of medications lose their effectiveness and this can be very dangerous. In the case of a wasp sting for example, if you are allergic you must take adrenaline. If it has expired, there is a risk to life. Finally, the third category includes medications that, once expired, become toxic. The last case recorded was an antibiotic called tetracycline and was finally withdrawn from the market.

3What to do with unused expired medication?

They must be returned to the pharmacy, without their boxes. The packaging must be thrown in the yellow bins. Tablets, capsules and other solutions are neither recycled nor reused but incinerated. “The incineration of medicines produces heat. This means that 2,500 homes are supplied with energy each year. The equivalent of the population of a town like Honfleur.”explains Laurent Wilmouth, CEO of Cyclamed. Until 2009, the Cyclamed association redistributed 5% of our medicines to humanitarian organizations in France, but for the past 15 years, a European law has prohibited reuse. The main reason is the storage conditions that were not guaranteed in our bathrooms. Do not think that it is therefore useless to bring back your medicines. If they are incinerated, it is to prevent them from ending up in nature and thus creating a risk for our health and the environment.