La chaîne du froid pour les produits pharmaceutiques (en anglais)

Selon le rapport "2016 Biopharma Cold Chain Sourcebook" préparé par les entreprises pharmaceutiques, les dépenses engagées dans les médicaments à conserver au froid (2–8°C) augmentent chaque année de 7 % soit l'équivalent de 41 % sur la période 2014-2020.
According to Pharmaceutical Commerce’s 2016 Biopharma Cold Chain Sourcebook, spending on refrigerated (2–8°C) drugs is growing about 7% annually, or 41% during the 2014–2020 period.

Looking at the entirety of pharmaceutical logistics, the Sourcebook projects that cold chain currently represents 19% (USD 12.6 billion) of a USD 78.8 billion industry, rising to 22% (USD 16.7 billion) of a USD 93.8-billion industry by 2020.

A second, related driver to this growth is that more and more of the pharma industry is biotechnology-based. While there are refrigerated small-molecule pharmaceuticals, and while not all biotech products require refrigeration, the great majority of biotech products do, and they command the highest value in the healthcare market. By necessity, biotechnology manufacturers (as well as vaccines, insulin and blood products, and others) need to spend liberally on technologies and services that ensure the quality and efficacy of the products they ship around the world. Spurring this on is the latest R&D on cellular therapies, including stem cells, regenerative medicine and varieties of genetic therapies.

On a commercial basis, these are still relatively small markets, but the logistics of managing their distribution will add complexity and cost to healthcare. A third driver is, to some degree, self-imposed. Through collaboration between leading industry organizations, and national and international government regulators, the restrictions on how pharmaceuticals, medical devices and other healthcare products are transported are becoming significantly tighter.
A key factor here is the imposition of Good Distribution Practices (GDPs), which are beginning to address not just refrigerated products, but also so-called controlled room-temperature (CRT) ones. The days of tossing any pharma product into a cardboard box and dropping it off at the local parcel delivery company are fading. While the industry globally has not, as yet, adopted insulation and cooling systems for CRT products across the board, the use of techniques like thermal blanketing and regulated warehouse room temperatures is become widespread.

The updated forecast for cold-chain logistics spending in 2016 is that it will be more than USD 12 billion worldwide, in a USD 79 billion overall pharma logistics market, of which USD 9 billion will be transportation and USD 3 billion will be specialized tertiary packaging and instrumentation, such as insulated boxes, blankets, phase change materials, active-temperature control shipping containers, and various temperature sensors and recorders.

By 2020, cold-chain biopharma logistics spending will expand to more than USD 16 billion.

Source: www.PharmaceuticalCommerce.com