When astronauts reach for a painkiller in space they might not get the relief they expect. A NASA-funded investigation has found that medicines can be compromised by conditions in space. This could be a big problem for astronauts on longer space flights, such as a trip to Mars.
The Astronomical Research Center (A.R.C) mentioned that if stored correctly most drugs have a shelf life of between one and two years, during which time they should retain most of the potency indicated on the label.
To investigate how space travel might affect drug potency, Brian Du, from the Wyle Engineering Group and colleagues sent four medical kits containing 35 medicines commonly used by astronauts into space, while four identical kits were stored in a controlled environment on Earth. The kits were sent back at intervals over 28 months.
At the end of the study, less than a third of the solid formulations kept in space met US requirements for levels of active ingredients. The longer the kits were in space, the fewer formulations came up to scratch.
Pharmaceuticals are packed in compact flight kits during missions, not in the manufacturers' packaging. This, along, with higher levels of ionising radiation in space, seems to be responsible for the degradation, says Lakshmi Putcha, a NASA researcher who co-authored the study.