The recommended maximum storage and transit temperatures for most medications is 25°C and are set by the pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Are healthcare providers following these guidelines? In the July issue of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Dr Brian Crichton, of Hobs Moat Medical Centre in Solihull, investigates how Britain’s local pharmacies are storing medications during hot weather spells.
Typical storage of medicines
Doctors who run family practices in the UK store medicines either on practice premises or in ‘bags for emergency use on home visits.’ Most drugs are licensed for storage at a temperature up to 25°C because, at higher temperatures, there is a ‘risk that their efficacy will be adversely affected,’ the author says. He argues, ‘The quality of drugs carried by family doctors for emergency use needs to be above suspicion.’ This study investigated the storage conditions of medicines in a suburban primary care setting in England during a heatwave.
Temperatures are ‘too high’
Thermometers were placed on the shelf in the drugs cupboard at the practice location and in typical doctors’ bags. The bags were then placed in the boots of two different coloured cars - one silver and the other dark blue - parked in similar places in the car park. The medicines ‘at every storage site exceeded 25°C’ throughout the entire study, Dr Crichton writes. Medicines on the drug cupboard shelf reached a high temperature of 37°C; in the silver and blue cars, temperatures reached 43°C and 49.5°C respectively.