This was a preliminary study to explore the stability and sterility of pharmaceuticals stored in a tropical environment. After storage in a temperature and humidity controlled cabinet; at 30 °C and 80% RH, eleven pharmaceuticals were tested at 1-day, 1-week, 4-weeks, 3-months and 6-months. Spectrophotometry absorbance, physical characteristics (appearance, disintegration, hardness and pH) and the surface microbiological growth were investigated. This study demonstrated that products stored in tropical conditions, changed in their characteristics and gained microbial contamination during the process or repacking. Further research is required to fully characterise the problem.
Key words: storage conditions, pharmaceuticals stability, microbial growth, temperature and humidity, medications
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