WE CANNOT TAKE BACK UNUSED PRESCRIPTION DRUGS BACK INTO PHARMACY STOCK ONCE THEY HAVE LEFT OUR DOORS.
The US Food and Drug Administration has a Compliance Policy Guide, and in this document, under Section 460.300, it says:
A pharmacist should not return drugs products to his stock once they have been out of his possession. It could be a dangerous practice for pharmacists to accept and return to stock the unused portions of prescriptions that are returned by patrons, because he would no longer have any assurance of the strength, quality, purity or identity of the articles……The pharmacist or doctor dispensing a drug is legally responsible for all hazards of contamination or adulteration that may arise, should he mix returned portions of drugs to his shelf stocks. Some of our investigations in the past have shown that drugs returned by patrons and subsequently resold by the pharmacist were responsible for injuries.”
Issued: 10/1/80
Veterinarians and pharmacists are both under the same US Food and Drug Administration rulings. Therefore, we don’t take back any drugs or medications that are dispensed, whether these products have been opened or not. We would be responsible for any harm to an animal that may come from a product that has been returned and dispensed again. We don’t want that and you don’t want that.
