Researchers: Prof. Bruce Sunderland Dr. Victor Chuang, Matthew Schmidt (Curtin University); Ms Stefanie Oliver (KAMSC)
Funding:
Project summary: Extreme fluctuations of temperature and humidity occurring at many remote and tropical areas make proper storage of medications a big challenge, as the efficacy of drugs is at stake when medicines are stored outside of manufacturer’s requirements. This undoubtedly will bring detrimental impact on the health care service provision to the remote communities. Lately, there have been some isolated reports that dialysis patients using fentanyl patches at the remote Western Australian town of Broome and other remote areas of the Kimberley region were experiencing an increased effect within the initial 24 hours then no effect for the remainder of the 3 day time frame for the patch. More data needs to be collected to give an accurate picture of the causes of the inefficacious patches in search of a solution to resolve the treatment failure issue. This study aims to investigate patient related and transdermal patch related factors, with a focus on the impact of heat, which could have caused problematic release profiles of the patches. The results of this study should provide a ground for changes to be made in order to improve health outcomes in the Aboriginal communities in the Kimberley region, and the use of patches in tropical climates
Progress: Ongoing