Do Homeopathic Remedies Expire?

Homeopathic Remedies-Medicines: Expiration Dates-Do Homeopathic Remedies Expire?

Years ago, I was surprised to learn that homeopathic remedies made in the form of sublingual tablets do not deteriorate and do not expire. When I was having a homeopathic remedy made at our local homeopathic pharmacy, the pharmacist told me that homeopathic remedies last for decades and decades.

We are so accustomed to buying western drug company chemical medicines that do deteriorate and do lose their effectiveness and do expire that each of us have a difficult time adjusting to the reality that homeopathic remedies do not suffer the same fate as the chemical medicines that are produced by our western drug companies.

In fact, the FDA has issued a rule which specifically states that homeopathic remedies are exempt from having any required expiration date. Some manufacturers do place an expiration date on their remedies, but those dates are not required (and those non-required dates may be more for marketing or other purposes). The FDA ruling regarding homeopathic remedy expiration dates is discussed in the Q & A  from Hylands which appears below.   Hylands is one of the most prominent manufacturers of widely used homeopathic remedies.

“Do these tablets expire?

Our tablets do not expire. We don’t put expiration dates on the products, as they have been exempted from expiration dating guidelines by the FDA (CFR 211.137) The numbers that are imprinted on the edge of the labels are lot numbers – so we know exactly when the product was produced. We can track any product we made using that number.”