5 things which you have to take into account in the pharmaceutical logistics

There are many domains in which special attention must be paid to transportation and in the logistic domain the most important is the pharmaceutical area.

Due to its idiosyncrasy, logistics are complicated since they need numerous varieties of processes, the management of thousands of different units, the control of the environmental conditions of the temperature and of the sterility of many logistic operations. A pharmaceutical company has to take into account the following logistic solutions which Milestone Logistics recommend:

1.Maintaining the cold chain. It is an essential requirement for some medicines and especially for vaccines personalised for a unique client. Therefore, they have to be treated with care. It must be demanded that the transport company follows this European regulation of 5^th November 2013 concerning “Good Distribution Practise of medicinal products for human use”. Vehicles must be controlled to have the highest quality technology in order to control the temperature, humidity, impact, atmospheric pressure and geo-location, i.e., necessary items for the future transportation.

2.The temperature is another “sine qua non” requirement for this kind of industry, since there are many medications and medicines which have to be maintained with care always using the same thermometer, for instance, with 18 degrees or between 2 and 8 degrees in the case of vaccines. In this way, vehicles have to be provided with the corresponding logistic technology to face unexpected events in order to modify to climate conditions or face a sudden change of temperature without altering the internal temperature.

3.All the goods are important and valuable, but without a shadow of a doubt these ones have a unique addressee and they are made ad hoc for the consumers. This is the case for medications and in the pharmaceutical industry. The vehicles and the transportation by sea, air or land have to be properly connected with the alarm systems in order to avoid thefts and especially to avoid counterfeit products entering the supply chain.

4.If the reduction of the carbon footprint is one environmental label which is required in every industry, above all, the logistic and transport domains, a domain which works with people and health cannot be any exception. Since there are vehicles in the market such as electric and hybrid vehicles, which reduce pollution, it would be an added bonus if the reduction of a carbon footprint was achieved too.

5.Eventually, the teaching of personnel who are in charge of managing the goods and of controlling the temperature, safety and the good practise of medicinal products are essential in the logistic chain.