Blog Post

Challenges of Global Track & Trace Solutions For The Pharma Industry

Adapt Ideations • Nov 18, 2022

The Power of Product Distribution:

Both physical and virtual connectivity rates continue to skyrocket and a major part of that is an increase in deliveries being sent across the globe every day at rapid rates. According to Statista, 159 billion parcels have been distributed worldwide in 2021 alone. With such a variety of goods being in demand, there is a substantial number of shipments constantly being transported between storage facilities.

With larger distribution volumes comes a significantly larger margin of error. Issues that occur are often dependant upon the type of goods involved. For example, for a valuable item such as a painting, the most concerning issue would be to protect the physical condition of the artwork and therefore avoid light or shock violations. However, for sensitive goods such as pharmaceutical cold storage related products including vaccines, the temperature excursions of the product will have to be considered in addition to physical tampering.

An easily introducible solution in this kind of situation would be to provide a way in which customers can simply and easily monitor the state of their shipments. This is where track and trace technology come into the picture. A popular form of tracking is the use of data loggers. These small devices can monitor and record important data, such as location, temperature, light and shock. This data can then be sourced from and analysed using a portal like platform to optimise pharma cold chain logistics and general supply chain processes and therefore revolutionise the art of asset tracking.

Below we will highlight some of the most prominent issues that members of the industry tend to face when distributing products and highlight how track and trace solutions can be used to solve these common problems.

Pharmaceutical track and trace Management

Industry Issues and How To Solve Them:

1. Region-based regulations

Legal challenges in society such as the existence of counterfeit drugs have led to certain countries tightening their security and therefore forming their own regulatory bodies with unique rules that must be adhered to. As these frameworks have not yet all been globalised, this acts as a hurdle for companies who manufacture their pharmaceutical cold chain goods in varying locations across the world.

Unique track and trace technology known as ‘serialisation’, where a unique identifier is included with products in a shipment, can offer some added security to the supply chain and therefore improve the overall traceability of the track and trace system.

2. Technological difficulties

Though technology has advanced in the past few decades, data storage is still a significant and valid concern for pharmaceutical companies. When it comes to storing vital vaccine related data, there is always a fear of data loss if relying solely on physical data storage infrastructures or the cloud.

However, with modern track and trace technology such as data loggers, the data can be accessed in near real-time and downloaded from a portal-like platform, meaning that the sender and recipient of the shipment would not be reliant on data facilities, but rather have it handled externally by the tracking solution provider.

3. Losing visibility

When dealing with pharmaceutical cold chain logistics, there is always a risk of losing sight of the shipment. Whether the product is travelling by air or road, with pharmaceutical cold chain goods such as vaccines often being extremely fragile and temperature-sensitive, it is important that there should always be an added layer of security to avoid delay, damage, or even loss of the consignment. By including a data logger alongside each shipment, every customer can see vital metrics such as location, temperature, light and shock of their products with ease.

Though connectivity issues can often be faced, most data loggers can store historical data reports which can be viewed on a portal like platform that is easily accessible to customers. By involving data loggers in the pharma cold chain logistics process, we can create a safe path of transport as shipments move to their destination.

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How Can Adapt Ideations Help?

Data loggers therefore play a significant role in ensuring the safety of fragile and temperature-sensitive products, which in turn helps enhance pharmaceutical cold chain management processes. Adapt Ideations offers a range of such devices, split between three categories including KELVIN, PIXEL, and PROTON. Each product range is focused on solving a particular issue both specifically in pharma cold chain logistics as well as the general supply chain industry. With location, temperature, light and shock violation alerts available, the KELVIN range offers an all-rounder option that works well on long trips. Adapt Ideations can help in an array of differing situations, for example the PIXEL range is predominantly focused on monitoring the temperature of sensitive goods such as vaccines when they are kept in a pharmaceutical cold storage facility. Along with Intellistride, our proud new ecosystem partner for the South East Asian region, we at Adapt Ideations hope to make sure your data is easily accessible to you.

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