Skip Navigation
Menu
Letters |20 June 2017

Epinephrine Concentrations in EpiPens After the Expiration Date

F. Lee Cantrell, PharmD; Patricia Cantrell, MD; Anita Wen, BS; Roy Gerona, PhD

Article, Author, and Disclosure Information
Author, Article, and Disclosure Information
This article was published at Annals.org on 9 May 2017.
×
FULL TEXT
Background: Interest and outrage have been mounting over dramatic price increases for the emergency-use epinephrine autoinjection device EpiPen (Mylan). Since 2007, the price of this potentially lifesaving medication has risen more than 400%. This sharp increase has caused patients to ask health care practitioners whether they can use expired EpiPens because they cannot afford to replace them.
Objective: To determine whether EpiPens expired up to 50 months retain their stated potency.
Methods: Over 2 weeks, patients and practitioners at a community clinic were asked to provide unused, expired EpiPens. All pens were examined for color changes and expiration date. Two separate aliquots of each EpiPen's content were quantitatively analyzed for epinephrine concentrations by liquid chromatography (Agilent 1260 Infinity II LC, Agilent Technologies)–tandem mass spectrometry (Triple Quad 5500, AB SCIEX). Epinephrine was monitored using 2 transitions (mass–charge ratio, 184.1 to 107.0 and 184.1 to 166.0) and quantified by isotope dilution using epinephrine-d6 as an internal standard.
FULL TEXT
PDF
Not Available
Citations
Citation

Cantrell FL, Cantrell P, Wen A, Gerona R. Epinephrine Concentrations in EpiPens After the Expiration Date. Ann Intern Med. ;166:918–919. doi: 10.7326/L16-0612

Download citation file:

© 2019

×
Permissions

Published: Ann Intern Med. 2017;166(12):918-919.

DOI: 10.7326/L16-0612

Published at www.annals.org on 9 May 2017

©
2017 American College of Physicians
4 Citations

Related Articles
Is It Time for the USPSTF to Inform—But Not Determine—Coverage?
Annals of Internal Medicine; 165 (12): 876-877
Combined vasopressin, steroids, and epinephrine improved survival in in-hospital cardiac arrest
Annals of Internal Medicine; 159 (10): JC4
The Effect of Drug Concentration Expression on Epinephrine Dosing Errors: A Randomized Trial
Annals of Internal Medicine; 148 (1): 11-14
The Effect of Drug Concentration Expression on Epinephrine Dosing Errors
Annals of Internal Medicine; 148 (1): I-30
View MoreView Less

Journal Club
Combined vasopressin, steroids, and epinephrine improved survival in in-hospital cardiac arrest
Annals of Internal Medicine; 159 (10): JC4
View MoreView Less

Related Topics
HIV
Hospital Medicine
Infectious Disease

HIV, Hospital Medicine, Infectious Disease.

PubMed Articles
Infectious complications following heart transplantation in the era of high-priority allocation and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.
Ann Intensive Care 2019;9(1):17.
Impact of mental stress, the circadian system and their interaction on human cardiovascular function.
Psychoneuroendocrinology 2019;
View More

Results provided by: PubMed

CONTINUE WITH LIMITED ACCESS
Annals of Internal Medicine
To receive access to the full text of freely available articles, alerts, and more. You will be directed to acponline.org to complete your registration.
×
acp link acp
silverchair link silverchair

Copyright © 2019 American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.

Print ISSN: 0003-4819 | Online ISSN: 1539-3704

Privacy Policy

|

Conditions of Use

This site uses cookies. By continuing to use our website, you are agreeing to our privacy policy. | Accept
×

You need a subscription to this content to use this feature.

×
PDF Downloads Require Access to the Full Article.
Annals of Internal Medicine
To receive access to the full text of freely available articles, alerts, and more. You will be directed to acponline.org to complete your registration.
×
Access to this Free Content Requires Users to be Registered and Logged In. Please Choose One of the Following Options
Annals of Internal Medicine
To receive access to the full text of freely available articles, alerts, and more. You will be directed to acponline.org to complete your registration.
×