Does cisplatin expire?
The printed date covers the sealed pack. Once cisplatin is opened, mixed or diluted, its label sets a second and usually much shorter limit — quoted below, per product.
Shortest limit on any cisplatin label: 6 hours
“If diluted solution is not to be used within 6 hours, protect solution from light.”
That applies to the product it is printed on, not to every form of cisplatin — check which one you have against the list below.
What the labels say
“If diluted solution is not to be used within 6 hours, protect solution from light.”
On the label for Cisplatin · DailyMed
“The reconstituted solution is stable for 20 hours at controlled room temperature [20°C to 25°C (68°F to 77°F)].”
On the label for Cisplatin · DailyMed
“The cisplatin remaining in the amber vial following initial entry is stable for 28 days protected from light or for 7 days under fluorescent room light.”
On the label for CISPLATIN · DailyMed
How the label says to keep cisplatin
Storage is the other half of the question: the stability behind any date assumes these conditions, and a medicine kept outside them ages faster than the calendar says.
- “Conditions Store at 20° to 25°C (68° to 77°F).”
- “Protect from light.”
- “Store at 20° to 25°C (68° to 77°F) [see USP Controlled Room Temperature].”
- “Store at 20°C to 25°C (68°F to 77°F); excursions permitted to 15°C to 30°C (59°F to 86°F) [see USP Controlled Room Temperature].”
- “Prior to reconstitution, store in original carton to protect from light.”
- “Store at 20° to 25°C (68° to 77°F) [See USP Controlled Room Temperature].”
- “16 HOW SUPPLIED/STORAGE AND HANDLING How Supplied Cisplatin Injection, is a clear, light yellow sterile aqueous solution, for intravenous use, supplied as below.”
- “Do not refrigerate or freeze cisplatin solution since a precipitate or crystal will form.”
Frequently asked questions
Does cisplatin expire?
Two different clocks apply and only one of them is the printed date. The date on a sealed pack is the manufacturer's guarantee for the unopened product. Once it is opened, mixed or diluted, the label imposes its own limit — as tight as 6 hours on some cisplatin products, and that is the number quoted on this page.
Can I still use cisplatin after the date on the box?
This page cannot tell you that, and nor can any page. The FDA's own shelf-life programme found 88% of tested lots stayed within specification at least a year past expiry — and concluded in the same breath that lot-to-lot variation means this can only be confirmed by testing each lot. What you can check at home is the in-use limit above and whether the product has been stored as the label requires. Ask a pharmacist about a specific pack; they will also dispose of what you no longer need.
Why do different cisplatin products have different limits?
Because they are different formulations. A suspension that gets mixed with water, a pen that gets carried at room temperature, and a sealed tablet do not behave alike, so each manufacturer's label sets its own limit and each is shown here with the product it belongs to. We never merge them into one number for the molecule.
More on cisplatin
Quoted from FDA labels for reference, not medical advice, and not a suggestion to use anything past its limit. If you are unsure whether a pack is still good, a pharmacist can tell you and can dispose of it safely.