Irrational family drug preparation leads to drug waste in the "severely affected area", with 15000 tons of waste caused by expired drugs every year. Institutions | Platforms | Drugs
To prevent and treat diseases, many families have a habit of storing commonly used medicines. However, most drugs have a shelf life, and due to irrational hoarding by some families and unscientific medication preparation, a large number of drugs are discarded upon expiration, resulting in waste. Industry insiders are calling for relevant departments to strengthen science popularization and education on scientific drug preparation, release guidelines for commonly used household drug reserves, explore the establishment of a legal and safe residual drug sharing platform, improve drug recycling mechanisms, and work together to prevent the risk of "small medicine boxes" breeding "big waste".
Irrational hoarding of drugs causes waste
Since the beginning of this year, the topic of household drug waste has repeatedly surged on the "hot search", such as # hundreds of boxes of ibuprofen thrown into the trash can # and # netizens hoarding 1000 pieces of fever reducing drugs and smashing them all in their hands #. Netizens share their experiences of the once popular medicine accumulating dust at home, which has sparked a lot of resonance.
The phenomenon of household drug waste has existed for a long time. The "White Paper on the Recycling of Expired Drugs in Chinese Families" released by Baiyunshan of Guangzhou Pharmaceutical pointed out that "about 78.6% of households in China have small medicine boxes, and 90.1% of respondents have experienced indiscriminate disposal of expired drugs. The annual waste caused by expired drugs in China reaches 15000 tons." Experts have analyzed that more and more households have developed the habit of preparing drugs, and coupled with the huge population in China, the risk of household drug waste cannot be ignored.
According to research conducted by reporters, the causes of household drug waste coexist in both the consumer and sales ends of drugs.
On the drug consumption side, general consumers have a unclear understanding of household medication dosage. Without the guidance of doctors or pharmacists, general consumers lack relevant medical knowledge and find it difficult to comprehensively consider the dosage and expiration date when purchasing drugs on their own. Some consumers even fail to carefully read the drug instructions, which can easily lead to extremely irrational drug hoarding behavior during periods of concentrated epidemic transmission.
In addition to the dosage, there are also issues with the selection of drug varieties for preparation. Some netizens are enthusiastic about referring to the "list of internet famous drugs" to deal with epidemics, but many frontline clinical doctors interviewed believe that some of the drugs on the list are not scientific. For example, Norfloxacin, an antibacterial drug, was listed among the drug companies that had previously reported to deal with COVID-19 "diarrhea strain" XBB. Regarding this, some doctors have pointed out that antibiotics are ineffective in treating viral diarrhea, and some patients only realize that something is not right after purchasing the medication, so they can only temporarily put it on hold.
On the drug sales side, some promotional activities objectively give rise to blind drug preparation. The reporter found through interviews with online and offline drug sales platforms and relevant institutions that common drugs are often promoted through "buy more, discount more". At a pharmacy in Nanning, Guangxi, a cough suppressant is undergoing a "buy three get one free" promotion. A citizen named Xiong Wei, who is currently purchasing it, said, "We definitely need four boxes. Even if we don't finish them at the expiration date and throw them away, it's still more cost-effective than just buying one box."
There are still bottlenecks in effectively curbing drug waste
Can medication be purchased more accurately on demand? Is there a way to resell and resell drugs after buying too many? Can expired unused drugs be effectively recycled? According to research conducted by reporters, there are bottlenecks in various aspects of curbing waste in the pharmaceutical industry:
Insufficient supply of low-dose drugs. Many consumers have reported that some drugs on the market have large single box portions, making it difficult to purchase according to demand. "Often, after following a doctor's advice for a course of treatment, when the disease is cured, there is still more than half of the medication left.". A pharmaceutical industry insider admitted that if the single box dosage is changed from large to small, not only will packaging costs increase, but the total sales of drugs are likely to decrease. Although "retail sales" can also achieve on-demand purchases, pharmacy officials have stated that it is difficult to store and manage drugs after they are opened, and consumers generally only purchase retail drugs when necessary for safety reasons.
There is a lack of guarantee for the sharing of residual medicines. During the period of concentrated outbreaks of epidemics in recent years, online platforms and offline social circles in some cities have seen the emergence of spontaneous "drug sharing" among the public. This not only promotes the accessibility of scarce drugs to a certain extent, but also alleviates drug waste. Several frontline clinical doctors have stated that there has always been a growing demand for paid "leftover drug sharing" of high-value drugs among some populations, especially for patients and their families suffering from diseases such as tumors, who may experience "leftover drugs" due to treatment or death. Legal professionals remind that paid "residual drug sharing" is essentially "buying and selling" and carries illegal risks. According to the current laws and regulations in our country, the entity selling drugs must obtain a Drug Business License, and such entities can generally only be operating units rather than individuals.
The recycling of expired drugs has not become a trend. Experts have pointed out that when regularly disposing of expired drugs, it is actually a waste inventory in the household "small medicine box", which can provide a certain reference and reminder for consumers to purchase drugs. Currently, expired drug recycling is being carried out in many parts of the country, but its effectiveness in practical implementation is not significant. During visits to chain pharmacies in multiple locations, it was found that only a few pharmacies expressed acceptance of consumers' demand for recycling expired drugs, while some pharmacies stated that they can accept it when there is a recycling activity. "It's all those ten or so old customers who bring expired drugs, every six months or once a quarter," said the staff at a pharmacy in Nanning that has a clear "drug recycling point". They told everyone to work together to "brake the brakes" on drug waste
To promote the problem of household drug waste, respondents suggest:
One is to introduce recommended dosage guidelines for commonly used drugs in households. Industry insiders suggest that drug regulatory authorities, drug manufacturers, drug sellers, etc. should launch "Recommended Dosage Guidelines" for commonly used drugs in household "small medicine boxes". This can be combined with the expiration date of drugs, the number of household users, etc., in the form of a list, to provide reasonable dosages for families and individuals; At the same time, we will increase publicity to deeply promote the trend of rational drug purchase and scientific drug preparation, which is known as frugality.
The second is to encourage drug "small packaging" and explore legal "surplus drug sharing". Experts and interviewees suggest that on the one hand, pharmaceutical companies should be guided to produce "small packaging", "small portion packaging", and independently packaged drugs, encouraging drug management platforms and institutions to promote sales reasonably. When consumers have a demand, they should consider selling them separately; On the other hand, further exploration can be made to establish a safe and legal sharing platform for unexpired "leftover drugs", in order to activate the surplus resources in household drugs and reduce waste.
The third is to establish a more comprehensive and sustainable mechanism for the recovery of expired drugs. Experts suggest that based on thorough research on the current situation of household disposal of expired drugs, various regions should establish more comprehensive and sustainable mechanisms for the recycling of expired drugs according to local conditions, clarify the responsible parties, operating standards, specific processes, etc. for the recycling and disposal of expired drugs, and also educate consumers on preventing drug waste during the recycling process.
