Climate change is damaging the medicines you keep at home

Medicines are sensitive to temperature changes and a heatwave is increasing the temperature of the cupboard in your bathroom and glovebox of your car too.

The surge in average temperatures in the UK and most parts of the world in recent years has shown that climate change is real and so is its impact on our daily lives. While effects on water availability and living conditions have been widely discussed, climate change is also affecting the medicines you keep at home.

How temperature changes medicines

Pharmaceutical preparations, whether capsules or syrups, inhaled medications, or injectables, are all supplied with ideal storage conditions. When maintained, these conditions help maintain the integrity of the medicines and therapeutic activity.

Regulators like the Food and Drug Administration ensure that these medicines are maintained under ideal storage conditions while they are part of the supply chain. However, once you buy the medications and bring them home, the strict controls cannot be enforced.

During an extreme weather event like a heatwave, these medications can be exposed to extreme temperatures, depending on where they are kept.

Studies have shown that during a heatwave in the …….