Manage your illness
The Importance of Disease Management
Most of us consult our physicians regarding our health and how to manage it. However, are you aware that pharmacists are also a vast source of health information? According to Gallup polls over the last twenty years, pharmacists have consistently ranked as the top experts in drug knowledge and how medications affect overall health. As specialists, pharmacists can advise you on mechanisms of action, drug interactions, side effects, and dozens of other useful health-related topics.
Pharmacists undergo six years of extensive training across a broad spectrum of studies, including pathophysiology, pharmacology, therapeutics, clinical challenges, laboratory monitoring, and more. Furthermore, continuous education regarding new drugs and modern therapies keeps their knowledge up to date. Ways a pharmacist can assist you include: evaluating new medications, understanding the doctor’s purpose for a prescription, treatment start times, identifying symptoms of overdose, instructions for safe drug disposal, monitoring health indicators such as blood pressure and cholesterol, and helping to reduce treatment costs through insurance guidance. Always take your pharmacist’s warnings regarding any changes seriously.
Medication Expiration Dates
Today, in many of our homes, there are medications that haven’t been used for a long time. We often do not complete the full course of treatment, leaving leftover medications. These drugs remain in our refrigerators or medicine cabinets until they expire.
Where is the Expiration Date Written?
On aluminum blister packs, numbers are printed at the end of the strip; these indicate the expiration date in various formats. EXP stands for “Expiration,” usually listed as a month and year. For tubes of creams and ointments, the date is embossed at the crimped end where the tube is sealed. The expiration date is also typically printed on the box flap. For syrups, drops, and other liquid medications, the date is embossed on the glass bottle label or the box lid. To verify the date for ampoules, check the label wrapped around the ampoule, though it may also be printed on the neck of the ampoule or the syrup bottle.
Know the Proper Storage Conditions
The expiration date of a medication is only valid if it is stored under standard conditions. Standard storage requirements are printed on the packaging; for most drugs, this means a dry, cool environment and the avoidance of freezing. Therefore, the bathroom is the worst place for storage due to high humidity. If a drug is left in sunlight, exposed to moisture, frozen, or overheated, it should be discarded even if it hasn’t reached its expiration date. Notably, some drugs produce toxic substances after expiring. For example, the Tetracycline family transforms into a toxic chemical byproduct after expiration, and their consumption can lead to Fanconi Syndrome.
What to Do with Expired Medications?
It is best to wrap these medications in plastic and discard them. Syrups and drops should first be emptied into the sewage drain before the bottles are thrown away. However, disposal must be handled with caution. Some drugs can be hazardous to the environment once they expire. If a medication is known to become toxic after expiration, it is better to deliver it to medical centers. The Red Crescent also accepts these medications to dispose of them safely without harming the environment. Regarding syringes, the needle must first be detached and disposed of separately. Remember that waste collectors in the city may be injured if these items are not disposed of safely.
What is a Biosimilar Drug?
Biosimilars are approved biological medications that have quality, safety, and efficacy highly similar and comparable to a reference product. These drugs are approved and released to the market through rigorous regulatory pathways after the patent exclusivity of the original “Brand” biological drug expires.
Biosimilars are not generic versions of biological drugs. In fact, Generic drugs are exact bioequivalent copies of brand-name drugs in terms of active ingredient, dosage form, safety, strength, route of administration, quality, performance characteristics, and intended use. However, the definition of a generic is not as clear for biological drugs as it is for conventional chemical drugs.
Biosimilar drugs are highly similar to the reference product, but allowable differences exist. Firstly, these drugs are made from living organisms, and analyzing the complex structure of protein molecules is extremely difficult. Secondly, the complexity of the production process increases the likelihood of variations in the substance, even between different batches produced by the same manufacturer. Generally, a biosimilar product must have no clinically meaningful differences in terms of safety, purity, and potency compared to the previously licensed reference product.
