I found some warfarin pills from a few years ago and I was wondering if it was safe to use them? - JD

According to Medsafe, an information site for health care professionals, the shelf life of Marevan is 36 months when stored below 25 degrees Celsius (~77 degrees F).  Marevan is a generic warfarin tablet so it should be almost exactly the same as brand name Coumadin due to strict laws on generic equivalence.  When a product expires, it means the manufacturer can no longer guarantee its potency is 100%.  Although this may not be significant in some drugs, warfarin has a very thin line between efficacy and adverse effects such as clotting or severe bleeding.  Products should not be used past their allotted expiration date because the effects no longer become predictable and this can be quite a dangerous situation.

References:

GlaxoSmithKline.  Marevan tablets data sheet 10 November 2006.

www.medsafe.govt.nz/profs/datasheet/m/Marevantab.htm (accessed 12 June 2007).

© 2007 Steven Abraham

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