Stress testing

Stability studies under conditions harsher than accelerated ones, such as high temperature and humidity, oxidation, light and pH extremes, used to identify likely degradation products and pathways and to show that analytical methods are stability-indicating. Japan's stability guidelines have long named it as one of three types of stability study, with long-term and accelerated testing. The closely related term forced degradation (強制分解) is used for the same kind of study in method development. Stress testing is usually done early, often on a single batch, and is not used to set shelf life.