Could Outdated Medication Impact Future Mars Expeditions?

Medications taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station prove to be either useless or dangerous on a multi-year Mars mission.

A Duke Health study found more than half of the medications kept in space would expire over the course of a three-year Mars mission. The researchers said either ways to extend drug lifespans or risks of expired medications have to be accepted since space conditions hit their potency.
Medications used by astronauts on the International Space Station might not be good enough for a three-year journey to Mars.

In a new study led by Duke Health, more than half of the medications stashed in space—the pain relievers, antibiotics, allergy medicines, and sleep aids—were seen to expire before astronauts could return home to Earth.

Effectiveness of Medications Beyond Earth
The study, appearing July 23 in npj Microgravity, a Nature journal, shows how astronauts could end up relying on ineffective, at worst harmful, drugs.

“It doesn’t mean the medicines won’t work at all, but just as you shouldn’t take expired medications you have hanging around at home, we’re going to have to plan that expired medications are not going to be as effective when we send space exploration agencies out,” said senior study author Daniel Buckland, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Duke University School of Medicine and an aerospace medicine researcher.   Space Pharmaceuticals’ Stability
Such expired medications can lose their strength by a little or a lot. The actual stability and potency of medications in space compared to on Earth really is not known. Harsh conditions of space, including radiation, could cut down the efficiency of medications.

This represented a potential problem, Buckland and co-author Thomas E. Diaz, a pharmacy resident at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, said, as space agencies prepare for long-duration missions to Mars and beyond.
 
Diaz requested the information about the space station formulary under the Freedom of Information Act, assuming NASA would use many of the same medications for a Mars mission.
 
Long-Duration Space Mission Planning
The researchers checked the international drug expiration dates using a database: 54 of the 91 medications they studied had a shelf life of 36 months or less.

At best, around 60% would no longer be potent enough to use by the time a Mars mission was over. If one assumes more conservative parameters, then the figure jumps to 98%.

This study did not assume accelerated degradation but focused on the inability to resupply a Mars mission with newer medicines. This lack of resupply does not affect medication only but also other critical supplies, such as food.

Increase the number of medications brought on board could also help compensate for lowered efficacy of expired meds, authors said.

“Those responsible for the health of space flight crews will have to find ways to extend the expiration of medications to complete a three-year Mars mission, select medications with longer shelf-lives or accept the elevated risk associated with administering expired medication,” Diaz said.

“Prior experience and research show that astronauts do get ill on the International Space Station; however, there is real-time communication with the ground and a well-stocked pharmacy regularly resupplied, which prevents small injuries or minor illnesses from turning into issues that impact the mission,” said Buckland.

The effectiveness and safety of drugs during long space missions, like a Mars trip, is an assurance space agencies are expected to handle. Other than the problem of expiration, the stability of pharmaceuticals in space is a specific matter. There is no study on how radiation, microgravity, and other conditions affect the potency of the drugs while in space. These may likely cause a drug to be ineffective or dangerous for astronauts.

Moreover, resupply of medications during a mission is logistically not possible for deep space missions. While the International Space Station, which has a comparatively high resupply rate and near real-time communication, could get by without these considerations, a Mars mission would be far below this threshold of communication with an enormously lengthened cycle of resupply. This puts additional pressure on planning and probably also on new methods to be devised for maintaining the effectiveness of drugs over time.

Coupled with the pharmaceutical difficulties are the broader implications on crew health management. Minor ailments or injuries easily managed in the ISS with a well-stocked pharmacy and prompt access to medical experts on Earth could easily turn into critical problems during the Mars mission. A need for robust medical contingency plans also insists on high-level medical training for crew members and advanced onboard diagnostic capabilities.

The aforesaid problems can be ascertained only through interdisciplinary cooperation among pharmacologists, aerospace medicine specialists, engineers, and mission planners. All such steps in this direction will have to involve research into the stability of drugs under space conditions, developing advanced pharmaceutical storage technologies, and choosing strategically medicines that have a longer shelf life in order to get prepared for the health and safety of astronauts during deep space missions in the near future.

Ultimately, the traversal of these pharmaceutical and medical challenges holds the key to accomplishing the stringent goal of sending humans to Mars while maintaining their well-being throughout the duration of the mission. The underpinning of this effort has been an excellent example of how scientific innovation in space exploration and health comes together to push beyond the boundaries of our present understanding and capabilities regarding both space medicine and interplanetary travel.

Reference: 23 July 2024, npj Microgravity.

Additional authors include Emma Ives and Diana I. Lazare. The study received no external funding.

Source; SciTechDaily

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