HCG/Empower Pharmacy
"Expiration" in the pharmaceutical industry is defined as "The date placed on the container/labels of a drug product designating the time during which a batch of the product is expected to remain within the approved shelf life specifications if stored under defined conditions, and after which it may not be used." In other words a drug will expire once it falls outside it's acceptable specifications of pH, potency, appearance, etc the primary factor being
potency. Once the active ingredient falls outside 90 - 110% its potency the medication is considered to be expired. So a drug that has 89% it's listed potency is by FDA and USP standards no longer suitable for use.
HCG is an interesting medication though... Unlike most drugs it's acceptable potency range according to its USP monograph is 80 - 125%. This is due to the fact that it is measured in International Units (IU) and not milligrams (mg). Since the analytical test to measure potency in IUs is not as accurate as the test used to measure potency by mass USP gives HCG the wider potency range. This is true of other medications measured in IUs.
Since the acceptable potency range and the therapeutic index for HCG are quite large a compounder can actually make the medication well above 100% and still be within the acceptable limits. Brand name HCG Pregnyl actually states a 60 day expiration date on it's HCG and I've tested their vials to be within 95-100% potency. You can imagine how long the expiration date would be if the HCG was made at 115% or even 125% potency.
I know compounders that have done long term stability studies on HCG showing it to be quite stable up to 90 days under refrigeration. To be conservative most compounders place 30-60 day Beyond Use Dates on their preparations just as we do. Since the Beyond Use Date starts the moment the HCG powder touches water it is important to make sure you get your HCG from a pharmacy that Freeze Dries it's HCG to prevent getting a batch that has already been reconstituted and started to degrade.
If you're interested I recommend reading more about
Freeze Drying (Lyophilization) and
HCG to better understand the background of how HCG is compounded and how it works in the human body.
Thanks for the information. Just received my first delivery of hcg from empower. Am really happy with the fact that all information about mixing, and everything I could possibly need was in the package. The delivery I received from another pharmacy became like a science project trying to figure out how to mix, how much bacteria static water to add, etc.
