What is the best thing to do with surplus Levothyroxine?
I have in the past returned some to the pharmacy, but I heard about a US charity sirum.org/ that takes surplus unopened meds for disadvantaged communities. I wondered if there was anything similar here in the UK or overseas I could send them to?
I’ve been able to switch T4 brand and my pharmacy seems to have a good steady supply for me, I’ve squirrelled enough away to create a buffer so was thinking I should clear out the old brand before it goes out of date.
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Regenallotment
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No - if a pharmacy takes in medicines, that is for proper destruction.
There is no way of checking whether they are safe:
They are what they say they are;
They have not been stored in adverse conditions.
Checking at that level is only viable for bulk medicines. For example, taking a packet out of a pallet and properly testing. Might seem wasteful but, for a few packets, it is less wasteful than managing the alternatives.
No-one can be sure that the tablets haven't been left to scorch on a hot radiator, or in the sun.
I'm not for one moment suggesting you would do that - nor that you would pass them on if you had accidentally done that.
But for anyone - charity, pharmacy or anyone else who could want to pass them on - they have to be sure that they are in at least reasonably good condition.
And that is simply not viable on a box-by-box basis. If you have a whole pallet - you could sensibly take one box out and test the contents. But the cost of testing a single tablet out of 28 would make it impossible.
They'd also have to do things like check there hasn't been a recall. And that they are legitimate product.
The whole pharmaceutical industry has been going through major revisions of packaging and management over the past few years. Things like sealed boxes. And the machine-readable data on packs. That is all to combat things like fake medicines, recalls, storage locations, etc.
This has been required despite the medicines at least theoretically being entirely within the control of the pharmaceutical industry at every step.
ah I see, thanks, yes I understand what you are saying now.
So far I’ve found some GPs in Leicestershire that send medicines to colleagues working overseas. But it seems more OTC ‘supplies’ , first aid and equipment/monitoring devices and not prescription meds.
There is a collection point for another charity in Mumbai…. Not sure about posting internationally.
Any one with an underactive thyroid gets free prescriptions anyway so you won't be saving anyone money. They apply for a medical certificate via their GP.
Give them to the pharmacist and they will dipose of them.
Seems like such a great idea doesn't it. It's not even legal in the UK to pass your prescribed medicines on to friends and family. That's why we can't allow people to offer their excess/unwanted medications to others here on the forum.
'still sealed' doesn't prove you're not eg. a terrorist who has injected a nerve agent through the packet etc .... or any number of other nasty activities that some less pleasant humans get up to.
So every medication that has left the safety of the chemist shop and later been returned has to be destroyed .... doesn't matter if it costs £1.13 or £ 130
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