Issues with cold chain logistics for pharma products, both during cold storage and during export/import were detailed and possible solutions were brought to the fore
The type of quality control a pharma product gets in a manufacturing unit should also be provided during the logistics process till it reaches the consumer,” emphasised Dr Ravi Prakash Mathur, Senior Director Supply Chain – Head of Logistics, Central Planning and Corporate Sourcing, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories. People often confuse pharma logistics with logistics facilities providing temperature control of 2-8 degrees, but in reality the challenge for pharma logistics lies largely in the CRT range which is 15-25 degrees. This is the controlled room temperature and we don’t have solutions for that. There are good solutions available offering temperature control in the 2-8 degrees range such as passive boxes, but the issue is that 95 per cent of pharma products need the CRT temperature range. Moving a CRT product using shared infrastructure at airport where there are issues of temperature excursions on the tarmac or the pallet build-up area and at the ICDs as well is a concern, concluded Dr Ravi.
Sarthak Vasudeva, Head-International Business, Indian Immunologicals Ltd, listed out the challenges the pharma industry is facing in terms of logistics and cold chain. There is a need to strictly adhere to the GMP and GDP guidelines. There is strong quality control maintained within the pharma production unit, but when the product is handed over to a logistics service provider maintaining the same quality control is a challenge, both in terms of temperature and integrity of the product as a lot of counterfeit products enter the market. Considering the limited product shelf life, the product should reach the market with maximum shelf life. Internationally it is mandated that the product shelf life should be above 75-80 per cent when the product reaches the market.
Summing up his discussion Sarthak Vasudeva said the three challenges are: preserving the cold chain during the entire logistics process, documenting the temperature control and integrity of the product till it is administered to the consumer
“Our objective is to be a reliable link in the entire supply chain,” explained Raj Khalid, Representative for India, Port of Antwerp. In terms of land area Port of Antwerp is the largest port in the world today with about 4000 acres of grass land. Based on the requirement of the shippers the port can build up any infrastructure that is required, assured Raj. “Anything we can do for pharma right from setting up new infrastructure, building new facilities, speeding up processes with regulatory agencies… we are here to help and assist,” ensured Raj.
“As a federation we listen to the trade and industry and try to bridge the gap between the government and the industry by assisting in policy making,” explained Karunendra S Jasthi, Sr Vice President, FTAPCCI. IT and pharma sectors need to collaborate to address the various requirements in terms of end-to-end logistics. The government of Telangana has come up with an IT Park on 20,000 acres and it will see tremendous growth. The cluster based approach of the government will enable the pharma industry to grow at a much faster pace. Logistics needs to be developed to sync with the pace of industrial growth. Gubba Prashant, Head, Technical Dpt. & Plant Operations of Gubba Cold Storage Ltd highlighted some of the important aspects of pharma storage. The Euro pallet is the international standard for preserving pharma products. Prashant detailed on the various types of pharma packaging and a cold storage has to be compatible to support all sorts of packaging. While most of the renowned international cold storages are rack supported, but the jumbo bag packaging is also evolving as more of APIs are being imported in jumbo bags. So development of the block-stacking jumbo bag supporting cold storages is need of the hour. Many of the cold storages do not have the mechanised handling systems, which they need to develop. Another critical aspect is managing the inventory. Systems should be developed to enable monitoring of inventory from anywhere on the globe. As he concluded, Prashant detailed on the advantages for Pharma companies to outsource cold storing instead of managing their own cold storage facilities as it will save a lot of investment for them.
