Qalitex Cautions Against Overreliance on Accelerated Stability Data for Product Launches

In the rush to bring new supplements, cosmetics, and health products to market, many brands lean heavily on accelerated stability studies to validate shelf life and ensure regulatory readiness. While these studies provide valuable insights, Qalitex is cautioning against overreliance on accelerated data alone, warning that it may give an incomplete or misleading picture of real-world product performance.

Accelerated stability testing exposes products to elevated conditions of heat, light, and humidity to predict long-term behavior within a compressed timeframe. Although this approach is efficient, it cannot always account for the complexities of real-world distribution, consumer storage habits, and ingredient interactions over time. Products may pass accelerated protocols but still experience unexpected degradation, potency loss, or microbial risks under typical use conditions.

Qalitex stresses that accelerated data should serve as an early indicator, not a definitive measure of shelf life. To safeguard consumers and brand reputations, companies must complement accelerated testing with real-time stability studies, which remain the gold standard for confirming product safety, efficacy, and quality across the entire shelf life.

Key recommendations from Qalitex include:

Pairing accelerated and real-time studies for a complete stability profile.

Testing under realistic distribution conditions, including temperature cycling and varying humidity.

Documenting comprehensive stability data to satisfy regulatory authorities and withstand audits.

Delaying definitive shelf-life claims until supported by ongoing real-time results.

“Speed to market is important, but not at the expense of product integrity,” Qalitex advises. “Brands that rely solely on accelerated stability data risk launching products that underperform or fail once they reach consumers. The most successful companies balance speed with scientific rigor.”

With this caution, Qalitex reaffirms its commitment to promoting best practices in product stability testing—ensuring that innovation, compliance, and consumer safety go hand in hand.