Recycling has come a long way from the days of reusing materials in relatively uncreative ways, say, glass bottles being made into …. more glass bottles.
Today, old plastic soft drink bottles become a pair of comfy pants. Ground-up roof shingles help repave highways. Chewed gum becomes skateboard wheels.
With all that ingenuity at work, can’t we find a way to reissue medicine?
A new study from the Netherlands suggests we can, indeed. Not only would it be less wasteful, it also could potentially save millions of dollars and reduce environmental impact.
The pilot study centered on four Dutch hospitals that collected unused medicines from some 1,000 oral cancer patients. Safety in reissuing medication is key, of course, so the prescriptions were packaged separately and fitted with a sensor that monitored whether medicines had been kept at the correct temperature.
During the study, 171 patients returned medications. The medicines were often discarded for reasons such as damaged packaging, but those deemed safe were redistributed. None of the patients who took reissued medicines suffered ill effects during or after the study.
The investment in time-and-temperature packaging cost roughly 37 Euros, or $40 U.S. dollars per patient. The overall savings came to about $623 per patient. The study estimated that the Dutch could save up to $540 million a year if redispensing medication were government policy.
Prescription drugs in the U.S. cost about 300% more than in the Netherlands and our population is many times larger. With the possibilities for savings, at least thinking about policy changes might not be such a tough pill to take.