UPS today launched an innovative air freight container for healthcare products, claiming toprovide “an unparalleled level” of shipment monitoring and product protection for
temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals, vaccines and biologics.Only available through UPS, the PharmaPort 360 addresses a key industry issue of safeguardinghealthcare shipments in the supply chain by enabling near real-time monitoring and maintainingproduct temperatures in extreme outside conditions, the company said.
As a part of UPS’s latest temperature-sensitive capabilities, the PharmaPort 360 is availableexclusively through UPS Temperature True, a service designed to safeguard cold-chain shipments. Theservice includes priority routing of shipments, temperature-sensitive handling and storage,around-the-clock proactive monitoring and intervention services in the event of unexpecteddelays.
“Amid the tremendous surge of temperature-sensitive therapies coming to market, it’s critical tohave the most reliable solutions in place to help ensure the safe supply of healthcare productswhile also driving cost and operational efficiencies for healthcare manufacturers,” said MarkDavis, product manager, UPS Healthcare Logistics. “The stakes are high when there’s a patientat the end of the supply chain, and UPS strongly believes that the PharmaPort 360 will ensurebetter protection of potentially life-saving therapies.”
Manufactured by Cool Containers, LLC for UPS, the PharmaPort 360 is designed with input fromboth the life sciences and transportation industries. The unit is fully validated and testedand exceeds rigorous healthcare industry standards for temperature-sensitive compliance duringtransportation.
The PharmaPort 360 container maintains strict temperatures by utilizing both heating and coolingstorage technology, allowing it to tolerate a significantly wider range of extreme ambienttemperature changes. The container more effectively maintains temperatures critical for protectingmedicines that need to stay within the required 2-8°C to prevent spoilage. The PharmaPort 360 alsosustains its protective temperature range for more than 100 hours, which is an important factor asmore supply chains extend globally and healthcare products need to travel farther to reachmarkets.
The container’s temperature control and monitoring systems are powered by an AC rechargeablebattery. The unit’s technology replaces the need for dry ice, thus eliminating the associatedhandling fees and hazardous materials charges. Also, the PharmaPort 360 will hold critical 2-8°Ctemperatures 38 percent longer than current dry ice container solutions.
Unlike other containers on the market, the PharmaPort 360 has built-in sensors that not onlymonitor shipment condition and GPS location but transmit this data to UPS’s global control towersvia GSM, a standard global cellular network. Agents proactively monitor the container for select“heartbeats” such as internal and external temperatures, near real-time location and battery life.When alerts are triggered indicating a potential risk, UPS agents can intervene withpre-established contingency plans to rescue a shipment in distress and prevent product loss.
“Product losses from temperature excursions and mounting scrutiny from regulatory authoritiesare pressuring healthcare companies to strengthen supply chain compliance and gain more controlthrough shipment data,” Davis added. “Having the information to prove that the integrity of avaccine or human tissue has been preserved in-transit, for example, is almost as critical as thecontents of the package.”
The PharmaPort 360’s unique design also allows for more flexibility for flightoptions. While in transit mode, the container neither consumes energy nor emits external heat,vapor or gasses, allowing the unit to fly in both upper and lower deck aircraft positions. Thisoffers more routing options, especially in constrained transportation lanes. The Federal AviationAuthority also has approved the PharmaPort 360 to fly on both narrow-body and wide-body aircraft,allowing for a high degree of flexibility in flight selections and opening access to marketsglobally.
