Pharmacists advised to cool dispensaries
Last year's August heatwave has prompted a GP to call on pharmacists to store medicines in a temperature-controlled environment.
Brian Crichton, a Solihull GP, recorded the temperatures at which medicines
were stored at his practice and in the boots of two GPs’ cars for
two weeks last year. He also asked 10 local pharmacies whether they had
air-conditioned dispensaries or monitored dispensary temperatures. None
did.
Over a two-week period, he found that daily temperatures at all three
tested sites exceeded 25C.
He concludes: “There is a duty to ensure that medicines are kept
in an environment that maintains their efficacy. Manufacturers need to
offer more drug stability data in relation to temperature. Even if the
immediate stability of stored medicines is not seriously affected there
may well be an effect on shelf life or expiry date. To rectify this,
practices and pharmacies may have to consider arrangements for cooling.”
Dr Crichton’s findings are published in the July
issue of the Journal
of the Royal Society of Medicine.
Dr Crichton said: “I would not expect temperatures in pharmacies
to be any different to those in our building.” He said that the
motive behind the work and publication is to challenge the thinking of
professionals who store medicines.
Tony Moffat, chief scientist at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society commented: “Pharmacists
should consider what degradation could occur during very hot periods
to thermally labile medicines and its effect on their shelf-life and
efficacy. This is especially important if the temperatures are cycling
between hot and cold each day and for liquid suspensions. Pharmacists
should also consider what long-term arrangements for cooling their dispensaries
they should have to ensure that shelf-lives of medicines are not reduced
due to high external temperatures.” |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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