Pharmacological Innovations in Space: Challenges and Future Perspectives

Purpose Since the first human experience in space, the interest in space research and medicine to explore universe is growing day by day. The extreme space conditions mainly radiation and microgravity effects on human physiology, antimicrobial susceptibility, and efficacy, safety, and stability of drugs. Therefore, the aim of this review is to address the impact of extreme space conditions, mainly microgravity and radiation, on human physiology and highlights the need for future approaches by evaluating the effectiveness of strategies to prevent or mitigate health problems. Methods Published papers and NASA technical documents were searched in Pubmed and Google Scholar databases using the keywords ‘‘antimicrobial susceptibility or drug resistance or drug stability or innovations or pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamics’’ and ‘‘radiation or microgravity or space environments or space medicine or space pharmacy’' to prepare this review. Results In this review, the challenges regarding physiological effects and drug-related problems are examined through the evaluation of extreme conditions in space. Medications used in spaceflight are summarized, and the role of pharmacists specializing in space medicine is briefly explained. Last but not least, to overcome the aforementioned issues, novel approaches have been addressed, such as personalised treatments, development of space-resistant formulations and various microbial applications. Conclusions Further research in the space medicine is required to facilitate the safe and healthy travel of humans to the Moon, Mars and other extraterrestrial destinations. One bear in mind that space research will contribute not only to the exploration of the universe, but also to the advancement of health and technological discoveries on Earth.