< PreviousTEMPERATURE CONTROL 30 Pharma Business International www.pbiforum.net Unyielding integrity Maintaining the cold chain is vital to ensure the efficacy of vaccines and vital medical products. As well as an upsurge in growth over the last decade, the sector needs to remain robust in the face of any future pandemics. Pharma Business International 31 www.pbiforum.net TEMPERATURE CONTROL © stock.adobe.com/ Grispb T he role of temperature control in the pharmaceutical supply chain is utilised right across the life cycle of a medical or drug product. From manufacture to the delivery to an end user or patient, many of the products and substances are temperature sensitive, requiring specific parameters to stay stable, active and predictable. Currently, the global pharmaceutical cold chain logistics industry is worth $159.9 billion but, according to the latest figures, the industry is forecast to reach $585.1 billion by 2026. This substantial growth is being driven by strict requests for the increase in biologics in international life sciences shipments and demand in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic (more on that later). Despite the surge in growth, emerging market challenges, from regulatory requirements to partner selection, put roadblocks up. The last decade has seen an upsurge in the number of logistics hubs worldwide, creating a more connected, around-the-clock pharmaceutical supply chain. As biologics become ever more fragile and sensitive to a greater number of environmental factors, the industry needs to forge links for the sector’s 32 ÁTEMPERATURE CONTROL 32 Pharma Business International www.pbiforum.net © stock.adobe.com/ MagioreStockStudioPharma Business International 33 www.pbiforum.net TEMPERATURE CONTROL increasingly turning towards ocean container lines to service their refrigerated supply chains. Air transport is an altogether more reliable and safer mode of transport, but it is losing a portion of market share from the global pharma products transport market due to a mixture of market challenges. There’s a lack of compliance, standardisation, accountability and transparency across the air transport supply chain, and annual product losses have been estimated as being anywhere between $2.5 billion and £12.5 billion. As the single biggest vaccination programme ever, the transportation and distribution of the myriad COVID-19 vaccines was a trial by fire for the pharmaceutical cold chain. Each vaccine had a different profile, but what united them all was the need for cold chain storage. This ranged from around –70°C during specialised shipping to around 2 to 8°C when administered. With many countries having found numerous weaknesses in their chains during the pandemic, and with the potential for more superbugs in the future, many businesses – and governments – are paying attention to what lessons can be learned, and now the supply chain can be put into a position to succeed if the same scenario happens again. Though the market is vulnerable to regulatory challenges, the cold chain logistics industry is tipped for massive growth over the coming years. Along with logistics companies looking to diversify their offering and get in on the action, as well as the ever-expanding pharmaceutical industry, the future is looking cold indeed. overall wellbeing. Combining specialist packers with a temperature-controlled fleet, for example, will help alleviate the stress of product contamination or breakages whilst also ensuring sensitive materials stay within the desired temperature parameters. The need for temperature-controlled logistics in both the food and pharma sectors has caught the attention of mainstream transport companies looking to diversify their offering or expand their capabilities. Many of these companies are integrating cold trucks into their fleets, while some of the biggest players, such as FedEx and UPS, have entire branches dedicated to healthcare logistics. New technology is opening up new frontiers and opportunities for cold chain logistics, from driverless vehicles to greener fuel options, blockchain technology and other means of tracking and tracing. Being able to track a shipment in real time allows a company to follow a product through the supply chain, so should a problem arise, such as a fault in manufacturing, the shipment can be immediately located and stopped before delivery, thus preserving the health of patients. It can also allow for insightful analytics so any detriments to efficiency can be identify and rectified. There are limitations to road haulage and although arguments to the contrary, driverless technology is unlikely to lessen the strain of congestion and road accidents – certainly not for the foreseeable future. The unpredictability of road infrastructure can also wreak havoc with tightly regimented schedules; so many pharmaceutical companies are Pharmaconex 3 - 5 September Cairo, Egypt Pharmaconex is Africa’s pharmaceutical manufacturing hub, connecting the entire supply chain in Egypt, the largest producer of the pharmaceutical market in the MENA region. The event offers a comprehensive experience for the pharma community to network and build knowledge around the latest industry trends. Pharma Data & Digital Medicine 2023 11 - 12 September London, UK A premier meeting for pharma data & digital medicine innovators, Pharma Data & Digital Pharma EVENTS © stock.adobe.com/ Ekaterina Belova © stock.adobe.com/ Anusorn 34 Pharma Business International www.pbiforum.net CPHI Barcelona 24 - 26 October Barcelona, Spain CPHI Barcelona is the ultimate three-day event tailored for pharma professionals to reach their maximum potential. Learn, network, and collaborate with the best in the business at the very heart of pharma. Attending CPHI Barcelona grants your business access to an unrivalled network of pharma professionals, where you can expand your network and find new suppliers, all under one roof. Vaccines Europe 2023 14 - 15 September Berlin, Germany An intensive two-day in person meeting that delves into the latest in vaccine research, platform technologies, development and manufacturing, and a meeting place for experts working within cutting-edge vaccine research & development. This event will bring together leading companies for engaging discussions, knowledge sharing and focused networking. mRNA Process Development & Manufacturing Summit 26 - 28 September Boston, USA The 2nd mRNA Process Development & Manufacturing Summit?returns to Boston as the most comprehensive and technical industry dedicated forum, to address key industry bottlenecks from securing quality starting materials, quality by design and automated large-scale manufacturing, to Medicine 2023 offers visitors a chance to engage with peers and selected leading providers in an exciting, successful networking environment, educate themselves on the latest in research and innovation in a renowned conference programme, and elevate pharma data and digital medicine & health research through immersive, discussion-based sessions within a committed community. BioPharm America 13 - 14 September Raleigh, USA BioPharm America brings together hundreds of the world’s most innovative leaders across biotech, finance and pharma for high-level networking, pre-scheduled partnering meetings, strategic panel discussions and more. ultimately reduce costs of mRNA production whilst harmonizing with regulatory expectations. Innate Killer Summit Europe 17 - 19 October London, UK The momentum of innate immune cell R&D is growing exponentially to harness innate immune www.pbiforum.net Pharma Business International 35 Cell Therapy Analytical Development Summit Europe 19 - 21 September Amsterdam, Netherlands The 2nd Cell Therapy Analytical Development Summit Europe is an unmissable event for Europe’s top biotech and pharma! As the cell therapy industry continues to rapidly grow and evolve, the opportunity to learn from and collaborate with leading experts in the field will ensure that potency, characterisation and multi-region access are no longer bottlenecks in the cell therapy drug development pipeline. © stock.adobe.com/ Alpha Tauri 3D World ADC San Diego 16 - 19 October San Diego, USA Whether you have just ventured into the ADC space or are an ADC guru, the 14th World ADC San Diego has got you covered. Accompanying you from early discovery to late-stage manufacturing and regulatory challenges, this meeting has been designed with one aim in mind: to maximize the therapeutic window of your ADC, and propel ADCs to become life- changing, front-line treatments for oncology patients. responses and promote gold-standard allogeneic therapies. Now is the time to gather this fledgling community and build further collaboration at the centre of innovation: in Europe. The Innate Killer Summit Europe gathers 80+ key European Gamma Delta T, NK, iNKT, neutrophil, and macrophage developers in October to chase the holy grail of efficacious, off-the-shelf, solid tumour immunotherapies through effective and scalable engineering, engager and combination strategies that promote safe, potent and persistent innate immune therapies following application. Seize your chance to network with innate immune trailblazers and receive three-days of some of the best scientific and data driven case studies that will help propel your innate immune therapy into the clinic and beyond. 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