Jerry Fahrni

Medication packaging that expires: the Self Expiring concept

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Jerry Fahrni

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Medgadget: “Designers Kanupriya Goel and Gautam Goel propose a new design for pill blister packs that will display a message not to take the drugs once enough time passes. The material would consist of two layers, with the top containing the original drug’s info label and a bottom layer with ink that slowly seeps into the top. After enough time passes, the warning message will become clear and the patient will immediately know to get a fresh refill.  The Self Expiring, as the design concept is called, won a 2013 red dot design award.”

SelfExpiring

From the reddot design award site: “Self Expiring is a packaging material for medicinal products that visually ‘self expires’ over a fixed period of time. This packaging will graphically display a ‘not fit for consumption’ message using universally accepted danger signs in regional languages. This solution will prevent illegal sales of expired medicines and fatalities arising from their consumption.”

Great concept. It would be cool if they could take it one step further and have the package analyze the medication inside and “expire” it when the potency goes below a pre-defined percentage. Expiration dates are good, but they don’t always tell the whole story.

Comments

2 responses to “Medication packaging that expires: the Self Expiring concept”

  1. John Poikonen

    Horrible idea on the packages. Outside of Tetracyclines outdated medication is not some large problem. They are somewhat arbitrary dates based on laboratory testing. I visited a Pharma Co where they left tablets in a hot house for months/years and then did potency testing, not real world testing.

    I have an article somewhere that a good portion of emergency medication stock piles are outdated, some by years. Potency testing was done and they all were just fine.

    This is yet another great solution to a non-problem.

  2. Jerry Fahrni

    Hi John,

    Always interesting to see your thought process in action. Just so we’re on the same page, I’m aware of how medications degrade, potency vs. expiration dating, potential for risk, etc. Last I checked I had a Pharm.D. after my name as well. I realize it doesn’t hold up to your standards, but I like to think I have some knowledge about drugs, too.

    I didn’t realize all ideas had to meet with your stamp of approval. I’ll be sure to let everyone know to check with you before moving forward with any ideas they might have. I’m sure they’ll all be eternally grateful for your help. You should know by now that not every idea is a moonshot right out of the box. Sometimes a concept goes through many iterations before it becomes a reality. A starting point is just that, a place to start.

    Some thoughts on your comment:

    1) If you’d read all the way to the bottom of my post you would have realized that I think the idea could be taken further, hence my comment “Expiration dates are good, but they don’t always tell the whole story.” See how I did that? I casually mentioned that the idea of expiration dates isn’t completely accurate.

    2) Until the U.S. figures out a better way to handle the expiration dating of drugs this is about as good as it gets. Can you utilize a medication in a hospital following it’s labeled expiration? You could, but it would cost you dearly if a regulatory agency found out. That’s why you have buckets full of “expired” meds sitting in hospital pharmacies. Are they really expired? Not likely, but the people that fine you don’t care about that, now do they? No, they don’t. Here’s the kicker, the manpower required to have technicians scour every nook and cranny in the hospital looking at every med on a monthly, or weekly basis is enormous. Having a visual que on the package could reduce labor, increase efficiency, lesson the sting from missing an expired med that is randomly found by a regulatory agency, and so on.

    So it’s not a bad idea, John. It’s not bad at all. There’s utility in something like this even if it doesn’t pass your test for innovation.

    Jerry

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