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I have metoclopromide (Reglan) oral solution in my rabbit first aid kit. It should be dispensed in a light-resistant, Tightly sealed container and stored at room temperature. It has been suggested that the shelf life of the product is fairly short. But I am unable to find any reliable references discussing how often it should be replaced.
Is there any published information on how long the drug will remain viable?
My veterinary pharmacist tells me it has a 1 month shelf life and cannot be frozen.
This seems to conflict with some literature that James dug up that suggests 6 months.
However, I did stumble upon this technical document about parenteral preparations of metoclopromide. It claimed that it's okay to freeze saline mixtures for 4 weeks, but that dextrose formulations will degrade metocloprmide. Contrairly, it clamined that unfrozen, any mixture should be good for 24 hrs unprotected from light or 48 hrs if protected from light.
Nevertheles, this research paper casts some doubt on about those clams. Hor et. al found no apparent differenced between metaclopramide's stability at room temperature over a 48 hr time frame in either saline or dextrose solutions, or dark vs light conditions.
In-contrast, during my attempt at purchaseing the solution my self, the pharmacy assured me that their solution was good for greater than 6 months.
The discrepancies can best be attributed to formulation, and the addition of stabilizers to some products.
According the flyer for Emeprid Oral Solution 1 mg/ml metoclopramide(pdf). The oral solution has an unopened shelf life of 3 years, it is stable after opening for 6 months. As mentioned in the question, it should be dispensed in a light-resistant, tightly sealed container and stored at room temperature. There are some references suggesting it is ok to freeze for a short time, but all of these are for injectable when NOT mixed with sugar. The syrup is going to have sugar (or should have) so you are probably best to not freeze it.
