UK Health Agency Warns: Heat Can Ruin Medications

Protect your health: simple storage tips to ensure drugs remain effective.

As the UK swelters, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) urgently advises safeguarding medications from extreme heat, which can compromise their effectiveness. Simple precautions can keep vital drugs safe.

Crucial Safety Guidelines

The agency emphasizes storing medicines below 25°C, shielded from direct sunlight. Hydration is key, especially for those using diuretics or blood pressure treatments. Individuals should also determine if their medications increase sun sensitivity.

Alison Cave, Chief Safety Officer at the MHRA, noted the importance of vigilance: “Let’s face it, when there’s a heatwave, most of us are focused on getting outside and enjoying it while it lasts. But it’s easy to forget that medicines left in the heat in cars, bags, or on sunny windowsills might not work properly when you need them.”

Elevated temperatures degrade active pharmaceutical ingredients, potentially nullifying their therapeutic effects. Many drugs need storage below 25°C; cars and public transit vehicles often exceed this during summer.

Vulnerable Medications

Rooms exposed to direct sunlight, bags, and pockets can reach concerning temperatures. Tablets, inhalers, hormone patches, insulin, and EpiPens are all vulnerable to heat-related damage.

According to a 2018 study in the *Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences*, temperature fluctuations during storage significantly impact the stability of medicines (Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences 2018).

Refrigerated medications like insulin and liquid antibiotics are especially at risk. Heat can change medicine absorption rates, leading to doses that are either too strong or ineffective.

Identifying Heat Damage

Watch for color changes, unusual odors, texture changes, or any visible differences in your medications.

Medications Increasing Heat Sensitivity

Certain medications intensify vulnerability to heat-related complications. Diuretics, such as furosemide, boost fluid loss, raising dehydration risks in hot conditions.

Blood pressure medications, like ACE inhibitors, beta-blockers, and calcium channel blockers, may hinder the body’s temperature regulation. ACE inhibitors might also reduce thirst.

Diabetes medications like insulin and metformin increase dehydration risks, potentially obscuring early warning signs. Antipsychotic medications, such as olanzapine or quetiapine, and stimulant medications for attention disorders can elevate body temperature, increasing overheating.

Dehydration symptoms include dizziness, headaches, fatigue, confusion, and dark urine, posing particular dangers for elderly people, young children, and individuals with cardiac or renal conditions.

Sun Sensitivity Risks

Several common medications significantly increase skin’s vulnerability to sun damage. Antibiotics, diuretics, antidepressants, and acne or eczema treatments can heighten burn risk, even in mild sunshine.

Painkillers, including ibuprofen and naproxen, sometimes cause sun sensitivity, typically with frequent or prolonged use.

Methotrexate, prescribed for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, Crohn’s disease, and cancer, poses exceptional risks.

The MHRA warns, “Even a short walk at lunchtime or a train ride in the sun can be enough to trigger a reaction for some people.”

This medication can cause severe skin reactions, including painful rashes, blistering, and swelling resembling extreme sunburn.

Always read your medicine’s information leaflet or consult a pharmacist about potential sun sensitivity side effects.