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Originally Posted by meanSpleen
its not so much safety as potency for most drugs, especially OTC (over the counter). They just lose their effectiveness after time, kind of like how a pot of chili tastes great for the first week, then just begins to go stale. It also means that you could theoretically take MORE than the prescribed amount because it is less effective, but that is most often, and rightly discouraged because it is unknown by how much the effectiveness has degraded.
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Youre right, the expiration date is not the date at which the drug goes bad, but it is the date at which 10% of the active ingredient becomes inactive. So the expiration date tells you that approximately 90% of the drug is still working. But if its 2 years old...Its hard to say how much of the active ingredient is still, in fact, active. Most people throw their drugs away after the expiration date which is stupid. But it is even more stupid to guess how much of the active ingredient is still left by taking more than the recommended dose. In this case, throw the advil away. If it were 2 months, I would have told you otherwise.