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Medications are intended to be stored based on United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) standards, which include a desired temperature range and an expiration date. Naloxone preparations have a labeled shelf life of 12 to 24 months. These researchers tested samples of naloxone up to 27.5 years after expiration to measure the remaining concentration of naloxone and presence of its degradation product, nornaloxone.
A dozen samples of naloxone were obtained from public safety agency expired stock and training supplies. Only one sample, which was 25 years old, contained <90% of the labeled concentration of naloxone and fell below USP standards. Samples less than 20 years old showed minimal change. No samples had clinically significant nornal…