But manufacturers also face the important challenge of protecting these innovative medicines throughout their life cycle, from production to patient.
In particular, safeguarding the journey of a drug from the manufacturing site to the patient is a key part of ensuring the efficacy and safety of products that involve the use of live organisms. Various temperature-controlled shipping solutions are available, today mainly with single-use packaging, capable of maintaining the temperature of a product within pre-established ranges for several days.
However, this solution appears to be in contrast with increasingly stringent environmental criteria with a view to a global strategy of environmental protection.
Today, many companies still rely on this type of solution for shipping, but there is another option with reusable refrigerated shipping solutions.
These multi-purpose thermal packaging solutions offer potentially more cost-effective ways to improve payload volume efficiency while reducing distribution costs and the supply chain's carbon footprint. In parallel, effective asset management systems are being developed that can track the location of the shipment with reusable packaging.
The management of returns remains critical, as it has already been in the past for many other logistics sectors.
The environmental impact of single-use and reusable termal parcel solutions
Traditional single-use packaging containers rely on insulating layers composed predominantly of polyurethane, extruded polystyrene insulation or extruded polystyrene, coupled with thermal masses in gel pack (PCM) or dry ice to maintain product temperatures throughout shipping.
These materials allow temperature control usually between 24 and 72 hours, but even longer for the most advanced solutions.
At the end of the journey, the recipient of the single-use packaging sends some of the components of the container to separate collection.
Anche queste spedizionieri possono mantenere un intervallo di temperatura piuttosto lungo, ad esempio tra da 2ºC a 8ºC fino a 96 ore e a volte oltre.
Reusable packs, on the other hand, are constructed from high-end vacuum-insulated panels, always with thermal masses in gel packs (PCMs) in bags, bottles, or other rigid wraps, which are returned to the manufacturer's Service Center for inspection, cleaning, and general preparation for subsequent use after the trip.
These shippers can also maintain quite a long temperature range, for example between 2ºC to 8ºC up to 96 hours and sometimes more.
Reusable packaging has a higher initial cost but can be a source of significant savings considering the reuse cycles.
In addition, reusable packaging also weighs less and has considerably larger usable space (thanks to thin but efficient insulation compared to thick walls single-use containers), which means they can hold a financial advantage when transportation and warehousing costs are high. Obviously, the most important advantage that reusable packaging offers are environmental ones.
A number of comparative studies have been carried out which have shown a very positive environmental impact of reusable solutions in the medium term, with a reduction in CO2 emissions of more than 75% (considering a reasonable return rate of reusable containers).
In addition, the reusable approach can ensure significant reductions in all environmental factors taken into account and up to 90% less post-consumer waste.
Even if the initial investment for the purchase of reusable containers is higher than that of a single-use container, and the costs of cleaning and reconditioning must be taken into account, as well as the rate of return of the containers and their damage, a manufacturer has a return on investment over time.
Ensuring successful recovery rate for reusable solutions depends on a reliable management system, integration with carriers and ERP systems, and communication and cooperation between supply chain stakeholders.
As the pharmaceutical industry continues its search for new therapies using biologics, logistics operators will need to rely on the innovation and efficiency of new cold chain transportation solutions, ensuring sustainable solutions that keep the temperature of your product in its critical range throughout the journey to the patient.