Southwest Research Institute evaluates NASA's medication handling practices

Southwest Research Institute evaluated NASA's medication handling practices, which currently call for removing medications from their original packaging and storing them in resealable plastic bags. Although this allows astronauts to economize stowage for spaceflight, SwRI's investigation found that active pharmaceutical ingredients degrade at a higher rate when stored in bags.

NASA aims to use the Artemis program to build a sustained presence on the Moon and has announced a phased approach to building a lunar base. To prepare for future Artemis and even longer missions, SwRI collaborated with NASA to design an experiment to understand how active ingredients in medications may degrade over time.

Researchers did not fly any medicines into space but instead tracked and measured active ingredients found in common drugs that could be used by astronauts during a long stay. Researchers kept a sample of medications in their original packaging and repackaged other samples in zip-style plastic bags. They then exposed both sets of samples to hot, humid conditions - 40° Celsius/104° Fahrenheit and 75% relative humidity.

While the study was limited to Earthly conditions, we found that within two months, active ingredients in one common antibiotic were completely degraded while ingredients in two other medications degraded measurably."

Judy Herrera, senior research scientist, SwRI

SwRI scientists performed periodic high-performance liquid chromatography analyses on the medicines over six months. Although the research was limited to a small sample of medications and did not account for space conditions, such as radiation, scientists noted significant degradation of active ingredients for the medications tested.

Herrera shared findings at the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists PharmSci 360 event in November 2025. SwRI's extensive pharmaceutical and bioengineering laboratories support a variety of projects from every phase of drug discovery and development to various forms of chemical analysis.

"SwRI's fully integrated pharmaceutical development program has the facilities, analytical expertise and experienced staff to design and execute studies like this efficiently, all within a single organization," said Darrel Johnston, director of Pharmaceuticals and Bioengineering at SwRI. "This integration allows the Institute to respond quickly to unique challenges, including those posed by spaceflight medicine, and help innovate solutions."

Although researchers didn't attempt to recreate the exact conditions of space, air, moisture and light conditions here on Earth proved enough to decrease active ingredients over time. These findings may offer insights for anyone who repackages medication outside the original containers to save space over longer periods of time.

"Spaceflight presents additional variables that require investigation," Herrera said. "Future studies may broaden the scope to address what may happen to a medication during extended space exploration missions, including long-duration lunar habitation."