Pharms industry needs innovative solutions

Pharmaceutical cold chain logistics is set for major growth over the next five years, and that will demand more innovative and collaborative supply chains. The total size of the global healthcare cold chain logistic services market is expected to grow from US$8.5 billion to nearly US$13.4 billion by 2020, according to a report by research company, IMARC. Titled ‘Global Healthcare Cold Chain Logistics Market Report & Forecast (2016-2020)’, it points out that the growth will largely be driven by strong growth in the sale of temperature-sensitive healthcare products. The World Economic Forum (WEF) further estimates that by 2020 a third of all global health expenditure will be in emerging markets. “Collapsed cold chains due to non-appropriate conditions can result in the loss of a shipment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Over the longer term this could lead to a damaged reputation, a sales slump, and even pose a risk to patients. These are high stakes and a smarter supply chain is necessary to overcome these challenges,” said Angelos Orfanos, president of life sciences & healthcare for DHL Customer Solutions & Innovation. DHL’s white paper, ‘The Smarter Cold Chain: Four essentials every company should adopt’, urges pharmaceutical companies to build highperformance partnerships – at both strategic and tactical levels – to create and manage highly complex, next-generation supply chains. “In the current market situation, regulated by stricter compliance requirements, a robust packaging material is not enough to ensure a constant temperature range for a product,” said Orfanos.