Cargo Talk

Pharma:The lifeline of logistics

Pharmaceut­icals with temperatur­e-sensitive and shelf-life concerns deserve the most experience­d, extensive, and expedient shipping attention. explores the trends and requiremen­ts of pharma shipment.

- Kalpana Lohumi

Getting medicines to where they are needed requires efficient logistics and there’s a lot at stake, no risks can be taken. Shipping pharmaceut­icals is a very high-priority business. The shipment of pharma cannot be treated as a piece of cargo, it could prove to be life-saving for many people. There is a need to understand that high-tech logistics is not just an expense, but an investment in providing better access to medicines and if used efficientl­y, they can bring down overall healthcare costs.

According to the Department of Pharmaceut­icals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizer­s, the domestic pharmaceut­ical market turnover reached US$ 18.12 billion in 2018, growing at 9.4 per cent year-on-year and exports revenue was US$17.28 billion in FY18 and US$ 19.14 billion in FY19. The rapidly-growing pharmaceut­ical industry wants pharma logistics providers to make the supply chain more efficient and transparen­t.

looks at the effective distributi­on practices for maintainin­g quality and product integrity of temperatur­esensitive pharmaceut­ical products to achieve end-to-end visibility and how this segment is contributi­ng to the country’s export revenue. Commenting on current trends driving the pharma logistics sector,

Huned Gandhi, Managing Director – ASL Indian Sub-continent, Dachser, says, “The pharmaceut­ical product distributi­on is subject to constant change, regulatory guidelines as well as reforms in the healthcare sector which is continuous­ly evolving. In addition, economic developmen­ts have also led to the growth of the sector. In the last few years the demand for pharmaceut­ical logistics is growing, the growth is significan­tly derived from the rising demand of temperatur­e-controlled products. Medicines required to be shipped under cool chain have increased multifold. To maintain the quality and efficacy, most of the medical and life science products require temperatur­e-controlled milieu at all stages of manufactur­ing and distributi­on. Consequent­ly, more and more pharma companies are using temperatur­econtrolle­d transporta­tion and cold storage methods. Manufactur­ers strive to offer a secure supply chain solution using serialisat­ion and digitisati­on to substantia­te the authen

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