Drug Expiration Dates — Do They Mean Anything?

FDA study gets to the heart of expired medicine and safety

The big question is, do pills expire? With a splitting headache, you reach into your medicine cabinet for some aspirin or ibuprofen only to find the stamped expiration date on the medicine bottle is more than a year out of date. So, does medicine expire? Do you take it or don't you? If you decide to take the medication, will it be a fatal mistake or will you simply continue to suffer from the headache? And how long is a prescription good for?

This is a dilemma many people face in some way or another. A column published in Psychopharmacology Today offers some advice.