Table 2 Terrestrial U.K. evidence of drug stability beyond expiration for ISS formulary drugs

From: Supplying a pharmacy for NASA exploration spaceflight: challenges and current understanding

Medication

Shelf life (mo)

Medication

Shelf life (mo)

Acetaminophen tablet

36

Loratadine tablet

36

Acetazolamide tablet

48

Medroxyprogesterone tablet

60

Amoxicillin capsule

36-48

Melatonin tablet

36

Aspirin tablet

36

Metronidazole

36

Atropine injectable

36

*Modafinil tablet

36

Azithromycin tablet

48–60

Mometasone nasal spray

36

Bisacodyl tablet

36

Naloxone injectable

36

Clindamycin capsule

36

Olopatadine ophthalmic solution

36

Clotrimazole cream

36

Omeprazole capsule

36

Diazepam injectable

36

Ondansetron tablet

36

Diphenhydramine tablet/injectable

36

Oxymetazoline nasal spray

36

Doxycycline capsule

36–60

Promethazine tablet/injectable

36

Fluconazole tablet

60

Pseudoephedrine

36

Hydrocortisone cream

60

Sertraline tablet

60

Ibuprofen tablet

36

Sodium chloride (normal saline)

36

Ketamine injectable

60

Sulfamethoxazole/Trimethoprim tablet

60

Levofloxacin tablet

36–60

Tamulosin capsule

48

Lidocaine injectable

36

Triamcinolone cream

36

Lisinopril tablet

48

Valacyclovir tablet

36

*Loperamide capsule

60

*Zolpidem tablet

36

  1. Medications presented were found by the United Kingdom’s electronic Medical Compendium (eMC) review to be stable for extended shelf life as indicated. All drugs presented are in the ISS formulary (though manufacturing, excipient content, and packaging may vary significantly between eMC formulations and spaceflight-flown medications). Drugs in bold italics were found to be unstable after spaceflight in one or more spaceflight stability studies in contrast to terrestrial study results. Drugs marked by an asterisk (*) were found to have degradant products of unknown significance in post-spaceflight analysis. The results extracted from the United Kingdom’s electronic Medicines Compendium;14 the spaceflight stability results extracted from Du et al.,15 Wotring,1 and Wu et al.17