PharmaBio Transport

With millions of research dollars at stake, the transportation of sensitive pharmaceuticals and medical products is serious business. OnAsset Intelligence Inc. (Irving, TX) provides platforms that enable companies to create and view a transparent supply chain. To mitigate cold-chain risks, the company provides solutions to monitor temperature-controlled medical products.

By David Restaino
Fox Rothschild LLP

With sustainability initiatives firmly rooted throughout most of corporate America, packaging engineers have undoubtedly begun programs to reduce their material consumption and their environmental footprints. But how does an engineer whose primary responsibility is to protect products scale back without risking product damage?

By Michael Parthenakis
Director, Strategy and Business Development
Cold Jet LLC

Since American Airlines Cargo Division (AA Cargo) began its temperature-control service for pharmaceuticals, ExpediteTC, in 2009, the carrier has shipped just over a half-million pounds in temperature-controlled drugs. “Why just last week, we broke a weekly record,” notes David Brooks, president of AA Cargo, speaking to PMP News in September 2010.

Eli Lilly sales representatives are adopting a new thermal container for samples developed by Minnesota Thermal Science (MTS; Minneapolis). Featuring a soft-sided outer shell with strap and carry handle, the Series 4 424 was developed for Lilly’s sales organization in Spain.

The first order was placed for delivery to Lilly’s Portugal sales organization this month, says Karl Schlenker, vice president of strategic business development, MTS.

When considering ways to prepare pharmaceuticals, biologics, and medical devices for transportation, we frequently turn to packaging solutions that can protect products from physical transportation hazards like shock and vibration. We also often seek to provide temperature control to ensure continuity throughout the cold chain. Such approaches work to protect products from known threats throughout the global supply chain.

When the World Health Organization declared the H1N1 pandemic in June 2009, Novartis was already busy preparing seasonal influenza vaccines for the 2009–2010 season. “We typically prepare 70–80 million doses for a typical season,” explains Matt Stober of Novartis Technical Operations. “We had to ramp up quickly to be able to provide an additional 150 million doses of H1N1.” In total, Novartis produced over 200 million influenza vaccines.