logistics Archives - Medical Design Sourcing

Lessons in life or death logistics

Cell therapy image from Wikimedia Commons

The cell and gene therapy market continues to advance, thanks to its promise to treat cancers and other severe diseases. While the pandemic has had a negative impact on companies specializing in cell and gene therapies, it has also catalyzed interest in cold-chain logistics while also highlighting the promise of new therapy types.

Organizations interested in expanding their focus on cell and gene therapies can learn from best practices from organizations specializing in high-stake logistics.

Push for standards and collaboration

The initial focus on transporting mRNA vaccines at below-normal temperatures “highlighted the need for some sort of standardization,” said Ray Hornung, senior manager, logistics and emergency preparedness at Be The Match BioTherapies (Minneapolis).

Ray Hornung

While t…

ATA Freight expands in India to serve growing pharma industry

The international logistics company ATA Freight is opening a new facility in Hyderabad due to growing demand from India’s quickly-growing pharmaceutical industry.

The Hyderabad facility will primarily cater to the pharmaceutical industry.

“ATA Freight already has a strong footprint in India’s pharmaceutical industry, serving many of the area’s leading pharma manufacturers,” said ATA freight chief operating officer Matt Goker. “We are also responding to the growing need from pharma companies in the Telangana region [in south-central India].”

The Telangana region is home to a high concentration of pharma companies.

India is also home to Serum Institute of India, which is the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines.

India ranks third in the world in terms of pharmaceutical product volume.

ATA Freight has more than 30 facilities in total. Outside of India, it has sites in the U.S., Russia, Turkey, China and Mexico.

How end-to-end visibility and machine learning can safeguard the vaccine supply chain

Photo by Spencer Davis on Unsplash

For any vaccine, some degree of waste is expected. The problem is inspiring supply-chain companies to explore new technologies that can address a longstanding struggle.

“Before COVID-19, we often saw waste of about 8–10%,” said Ranjeet Banerjee, CEO of Cold Chain Technologies, which provides insulated packaging for drugs and biologics.

A 2019 World Health Organization report citing 2002 data concluded that between 5% and 50% of routine vaccines are wasted.

In some cases, entire pallets or freezers of vaccines are tossed out due to storage unit malfunctions that may have impacted only some vaccine vials.

In general, the biopharma industry loses roughly $35 billion each year as a result of cold-chain, according to a 2019 IQVIA report.

COVID-19 vaccines up the stakes. “COVID vaccine has ten times the complexity,” Banjree said. Not only are a variety of vaccines availabl…

It’s time to rethink pharma supply chains

Image courtesy of Pixabay

Global supply chains have arguably seen more disruption in the past year than they have seen in decades.

Pharmaceutical supply chains were especially vulnerable in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting a rethink of supply chain management for the industry.

Another wrinkle is a recent executive order from President Biden, which prompted a review of critical supply chains including for pharmaceuticals and related supplies.

To learn more about the quickly moving landscape, we reached out to William Wappler, the founder and CEO of supply chain specialist Surgere. In the following interview, Wappler shares his thoughts on broad advances in supply chain management including the challenges and possibilities of IoT technology in the sector. He also touches on inbound and outbound logistics considerations for pharmaceutical companies.

What are some of the mo…