09-24-2021, 04:55 PM
(09-24-2021, 03:03 PM)ac3r Wrote: In fact, a significant amount of drugs in existence are fine well past their expiration date.
I would assume that the expiry date is the date to which the drug is known to be good, just like the approved population and dosage is the population and dosage for which it is known to be safe and effective.
So just as drugs will often be safe in populations which haven’t been studied and in doses which haven’t been studied, so to will they continue to be effective a certain amount of time past their due date.
This is inevitable given the nature of drug research: to develop a drug which can be used. That doesn’t require fully researching just exactly how long it lasts, only establishing that it lasts long enough.
Really this is just engineering. Every engineered structure in existence can take more weight than it ever does (well, except for the occasional screw-up); but the weight it takes is one that is established to be safe. Same thing with drugs.