You are required to write a 6 page report (excluding the references) on the critical assessment of current programs for unwanted pharmaceutical products. The research should only focus on US government and companies.

At least 20 journal articles and governmental/institutional sources are needed. The findings need to be summarized in a tabulated format for easier comparison – in addition to the narrative -.

Below is provided to give you a better picture of the problem in addition to the keywords that might be useful for your research.

A product is considered in its end-of-life (EOL) when it completes its service life time. Completion of service life time is either caused by deterioration or obsolescence. Deterioration implies that the product is no longer usable due to disintegration or degeneration. Obsolescence, on the other hand, refers to those products that are rendered invalid due to systemic, functional, and style mismatch or due to notification of expiration set by the manufacturer. Therefore, obsolete products are likely to preserve their initial conditions. Pharmaceutical products, specifically prescription drugs, constitute one product category that completes its service life time before it deteriorates. The mismatch between the utilization period and the obsolescence date leads to accumulation of stored (hibernating) or discarded EOL pharmaceutical products. Furthermore, following their expiration date, some of these pharmaceutical products also become toxic and hence hazardous to human health and the environment. The economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable option is to take back and reuse, recycle, and/or properly dispose of these products. Reverse logistics systems focus on such problems. With these motivations, this study proposes a reverse logistics framework that embodies environmental, economical, and physical concerns for EOL pharmaceutical products. An RFID-based Information Technology (IT) infrastructure required for the proposed system along with a comprehensive overview of the existing drug take-back regulations worldwide are also provided.