Q & A: What To Do With Cortrosyn That's About to Expire

Due to an inventory error, we have found ourselves with 3 bottles of synthetic ACTH (Cortrosyn) that have an expiration date of a month from now. Would you recommend reconstituting all 3 vials and freezing into aliquots at this point? Before I throw out several hundred dollars worth of Cortrosyn, I wanted to ask you opinion.

Additionally, for future use, what is the current dosing recommendation when using previously reconstituted Cortrosyn? Are there special considerations for freezing it?

Thanks so much for your help.

My Response:

Officially, I cannot condone the use of drugs past their expiration date, but it makes some sense to me that if you reconstitute it and freeze it now, that you could keep the aliquots for 6 months. The problem is if you get results that you weren't expecting (ie, lower than expected ACTH-stimulated cortisol values), then you have to question whether the Cortrosyn is still potent, but I'd suspect it will be okay.

If it was still in date, you could try selling some to neighboring clinics, but I'm not so sure you can or should do that with expired drug.

Click here to see my previous post about how I recommend reconstituting and freezing Cortosyn for future use. And click here to see my post on the best dose to use for ACTH stimulation testing.