Scientists had tested a few drugs that were brought back from the global Space Station, ISS.
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The degradation of medicines in space isn’t faster than what is seen on Earth usually.
NASA scientists have been wondering how the different conditions in outer space would affect medicines packed by astronauts from Earth for a long time now, hoping to identify any medications that may degrade quickly once they leave the Earth’s atmosphere.
Researchers published their findings this week in The AAPS Journal. Although temperature and humidity conditions on board the ISS are generally within ideal ranges for medicine storage on Earth, until now, there has been little evidence of how medicines might react to factors unique to spaceflight, such as microgravity and constant exposure to elevated radiation levels. The medicines – which included sleeping aids, pain relievers, antihistamines, an antidiarrheal and an alertness drug – showed no signs of accelerated degradation.
The USP stipulations were met even months after the medicines’ official expiration date – from three to eleven months past the deadline.
The medications were taken to the ISS by Russia’s Progress spacecraft and after the drugs were stored in the space research complex for about 550 days, it was returned back to Earth via Dragon (SpaceX) capsule. For the analysis, drug samples were sent to California using a boat before it was flown to JSC in Houston, Texas.
All medications eventually degrade when exposed to oxygen, humidity and light. The study did not find noteworthy degradation products in all of the tests. The tests, in addition, did not reveal any peculiar degradation products.
As a part of the study, the space medication samples were analyzed using the procedures outlined in the 2012 U.S. Pharmacopeia to identify levels of active pharmaceutical ingredient and detect and measure various degradation products. Four of the medicines were still usable up to eight months after expiration and three medications conformed to the USP guidelines after being tested three months following the expiration date.
The study states that one particular medicine met USP requirements despite expiring five months ago. Another three medications met USP guidelines when they were tested three months before their expiry date. There was a dietary supplement or sleeping aid which didn’t meet USP requirements 11 months after expiring.
These findings were based on measurements made at one point of time and for a number of medicines. With this, the results can not be used to predict the safety and efficacy of other medications or inferred to other storage times. She collected FDA-approved medicine and had them repackaged by Johnson Space Center (JSC) Pharmacy so as to adhere to space mission requirements.
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Wotring says the next step is to undertake rigorous stability studies with ground controls and across multiple time points, as well as including new medications, studying longer periods of time, and confirming whether the new data support the initial findings demonstrated in the current study.
