Cold Chain: Going the Extra Mile
Shipping temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals such as biological products, has never been easy. Today, changing global requirements and a more complex supply chain are driving more conservative approaches to temperature control. For products such as cell therapies and tissue culture, cryogenic shipping is now preferred. Other biopharmaceuticals are being shipped at lower tempertures, and even small-molecule-based pharmaceuticals that might have been shipped at ambient temperatures a few years ago, must now be kept at controlled temperatures.
Transport has become much more than simply moving product from one place to another. It’s now being seen as a “mobile form of storage,” says Volker Kirschner, director of temperature control solutions for World Courier Management Co, part of Amerisource Bergen. This is especially true in Europe, he says, where the European Union (EU) began strengthening its good distribution practice (GDP) guidelines three years ago.
Source: Pharmtech
