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Handbook of Space Pharmaceuticals pp 1–30Cite as

Evaluation of Physical and Chemical Changes in Pharmaceuticals Flown on Space Missions

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Abstract

The use of pharmaceuticals has been and remains commonplace in human spaceflight missions. In this chapter, the causes of physical and chemical changes of pharmaceuticals in the spaceflight environment are detailed from first principles. Experimentally-realized changes of pharmaceuticals aboard spacecraft such as the space shuttle (STS) and ISS are compared against United States Pharmacopeia standards and provide a means of assessing the viability of pharmaceuticals in long-term human space missions; analysis of results and the widespread use of pharmaceuticals in human missions suggests variability in the quality of pharmaceuticals for space missions ought to be narrowed to provide consistency in the expected lifetime of pharmaceuticals and support expected future increases in mission duration.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Doctoral Student, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Tekilanand Persaud

  2. College of Pharmacy, University of South Florida Health, Tampa, FL, USA

    Yashwant V. Pathak

  3. Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Pharmacy, Airlangga University, Surabaya, Indonesia

    Yashwant V. Pathak

Authors
  1. Tekilanand Persaud
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  2. Yashwant V. Pathak
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yashwant V. Pathak .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Health College of Pharmacy, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

    Yashwant Pathak

  2. PUCRS, Partenon, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

    Marlise Araújo dos Santos

  3. BioServe Space Technologies, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA

    Luis Zea

Section Editor information

  1. Health College of Pharmacy, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA

    Yashwant Pathak

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Persaud, T., Pathak, Y.V. (2019). Evaluation of Physical and Chemical Changes in Pharmaceuticals Flown on Space Missions. In: Pathak, Y., Araújo dos Santos, M., Zea, L. (eds) Handbook of Space Pharmaceuticals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50909-9_30-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50909-9_30-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-50909-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-50909-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Chemistry and Mat. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics

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