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Q&A Part I: Packaging Critical for World Courier’s Global Healthcare Shipments

How the company approaches everything from international personalized medicine/Direct-to-Patient (DTP) deliveries to shipments of temperature-sensitive therapies that must withstand extreme weather conditions across multiple continents.

The old Boy Scout Motto, “Be Prepared,” aptly describes how World Courier, an AmerisourceBergen Corp., approaches multiple global logistics challenges in the biopharmaceutical market.

Healthcare Packaging (HCP) discussed how packaging and both internal and external global standards and guidelines help the specialty logistics firm store and transport vital biopharmaceuticals in this exclusive interview with Volker Kirchner, the company’s Director of Temperature Control Solutions, and Michael Fleischer, Global Director Quality, Transport Division at World Courier, Germany.

HCP: What products does World Courier offer, and for what different temperature ranges for shipping pharmaceuticals and biologics products?

Kirchner: We offer a range of active and passive containers to dry shippers that support cryogenic shipments. These accommodate temperature ranges that include, but not limited to low frozen (-150°C to -180°C), frozen (-15°C to -25°C), refrigerated (+2°C to +8°C) and controlled ambient (+15°C to +25°C).  

Specialists at World Courier’s Climate Optimisation Research and Engineering (CORE) Labs continually evaluate packaging performance and drive solutions to help shippers make the most informed packaging decisions. In 2016, World Courier unveiled a new passive packaging solution called “Cocoon” that supports a variety of temperature ranges, including frozen, controlled ambient and refrigerated. The development of Cocoon stemmed from a conversation with one of our manufacturing clients, who needed a temperature-controlled container for a low frozen range with challenging specifications. Composed of honeycomb vacuum-insulated panels, Cocoon reduces transport costs and maintains temperature up to 40% longer than comparable products.

In recent years, both USP 1079 and EU GDP have stepped up their “ship as stored” requirements. It is now an accepted requirement that pharmaceutical product has to be shipped under conditions that are in accordance with the storage requirements indicated on the label of the medication. In other words, if the label says, “Do not store above +25°C,” this requirement must be fulfilled during transportation, too.

For shipments being sent out under uncontrolled conditions, manufacturer’s information or extended stability data must be available to support this. It explains why even products that do not require any form of refrigeration or cooling during transport would still have to be shipped out under controlled conditions.

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