Taking medicine into space hasn't been a big concern up to now, as even the longest human flights (to the moon) only took a few days. But a trip to Mars is expected to take three years, and that's just getting there. You can't just come home when you're sick, or wait for the next shuttle of supplies. Astronauts on a Mars mission could need any number of medications. However, every extra ounce of supplies taken comes at a cost, so figuring out which medicines are most likely to be needed is the subject of serious research. But the medicines most likely to be needed is just one factor. Drugs can affect the body differently in microgravity. And they'll need to stay stable.
Longer missions bring more variables to how drugs work differently in space, including expiring faster. “Typically what we purchase and what is approved by the FDA or the equivalent European organizations has a 24 month shelf life,” Wotring said. Unfortunately, it takes about 36 months to get to Mars, which could be a major issue. It’s not like astronauts can get a new shipment of Vicodin.
“The stability of medications as a result of the spaceflight environment is largely unknown,” Bayuse said. “There has been some evidence that suggests that some medications may degrade [in space] before the listed manufacturer expiration date. Unfortunately, there have been some issues highlighted with those studies, such as not having ground controls to compare the results to, confounding variables and limited sample sizes hindering the reproducibility of the results.”
“Currently we do not have enough data to fully characterize what those results mean or how the care of our astronauts may need to be adjusted, if at all,” she added.
Scientists are busy gathering the data they'll need to stock an efficient, workable pharmacy for a Mars mission. Some experts tell about their research on drugs in space at Ars Technica.
(Image credit: SpaceX)
