Overcoming Biopharmaceutical Cold Chain Logistics Challenges in the Chinese Market

Like many industries in China, biopharmaceuticals has recently experienced substantial growth and the country is now close to becoming the world's largest biopharma market.

To take full advantage of the potential of this sector, however, the nation must find an effective way to deal with some of its complex challenges, such as the logistics of temperature-controlled supply chains.

Huo Peiqiong, head of supply chain and quality at Guangdong Zhongjian Medicine Company, recently discussed this issue in an interview with Cold Chain IQ.
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She noted that cold chain logistics are particularly important for her company, as about 70 per cent of the drugs in its business lines require temperature-controlled environments.

According to Huo, one of the most significant current trends in this area relates to packaging.

Some types of cold chain packaging can store products effectively for up to 70 hours, while others are only usable for two or three hours.

"Packaging is a top priority for me because China is so big and there are such extremes in temperature from north to south," said Huo.

"How to use packaging correctly and training staff is important too."

Weather, transport and workforce training are the three biggest concerns for the temperature-controlled pharmaceutical supply chain in China, according to the company executive.

RuiQi Wang, affiliate quality officer at Sanofi-aventis, told Cold Chain IQ that the quality of subcontractors and extreme winter weather conditions are among the biggest risks for this aspect of the industry.

He highlighted periodic quality reviews and adherence to internal directives and published guidelines as good approaches to ensuring quality in the supply chain.

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