Major Challenges Facing Life Science and Pharmaceutical Supply Chains

Contamination from a chemical used to treat the wooden pallets on which packing items were kept and carried.

Fremont, CA: Shipping is a high-stakes game in the life sciences business. This industry's freight may transform and save lives, from clinical research to biological samples and pharmaceutical items. However, if not managed properly, it has the potential to take them.

Shipping becomes even more difficult due to this increased level of risk. After all, the bigger the stakes, the more complicated the situation. Here are a few examples of how this affects modern life science supply chains—and the bottom line.

· Preventing potentially hazardous and wasteful damage & contamination.

Every sector struggles with damaged freight occasionally, resulting in whole shipments getting written off. However, the risk threshold in the life sciences business is substantially different, resulting in a far larger potential for waste. Another key concern that life science shipments are particularly vulnerable to is contamination. Contamination, unlike damage, can be difficult to detect until it's too late; thus, carriers must adhere to strict hygiene and safety requirements.

For example, contamination from a chemical used to treat the wooden pallets on which packing items were kept and carried.

· Investing in required safeguards

Life science shipments must be meticulously monitored and managed at all times. This necessitates the implementation of specific safeguards, which raises the cost.

It's especially true for the industry's reliance on cold chain transportation. For temperature-controlled goods, such as vials of medicine, even a single degree variation in temperature might cause a potentially deadly change in chemical makeup—the expense of preventing this from happening amounts to 17% of total biopharma logistics costs.

· Trying to strike a balance between being overstocked and being underprepared.

Forecasting is very important in the pharmaceutical sector. Because many pharmaceuticals have a very short shelf life, overstocking can result in waste. The last thing any firm wants is to spend a fortune on manufacturing and shipping to have half of the shipment wind up in an incinerator.