Almac Streamline Temperature Sensitive Clinical Supplies with Enhanced Service Offering

Almac, leading experts in the management of temperature controlled clinical supplies, has further enhanced its service offering with the completed expansion of refrigerated (2-8°C) storage and newly developed refrigerated labelling facilities at its UK site.  This enhancement doubles Almac’s refrigerated storage capacity at its UK site and comes as a response to a growing number of client requests involving Biologics, Biosimilar Compounds and other temperature critical material.

The labelling, packaging, and distribution of cold chain materials can often prove complicated given the temperature sensitive nature of the products.  In most cases, the product has a limited amount of time that it can be out of the specified temperature, whether it be 2-8°C or colder. With the introduction of the refrigerated labelling facility and expansion of refrigerated storage, Almac is able to offer a more streamlined cold chain service by ensuring the material flow is consistently monitored at every stage in the clinical supply chain.  The offering, mirrored at the company’s US headquarters in Souderton, PA, is a substantial benefit to existing and potential clients where maintaining temperature control is critical to the shelf life and stability of their compound or the chosen comparator.

Almac has already taken great strides in enhancing the distribution portion of cold chain management by introducing an enhanced cold chain shipper solution. The containers are smaller, lighter and more robust than existing shipper solutions on the market, retaining maximised product space, thus making them a very cost-effective shipping option for Almac’s customers. Sharon Courtney, Head of Distribution, commented ‘In the first 6 months since their implementation, the shippers achieved an impressive <0.33% excursion rate across the board, making this one of the most effective shipping solutions in the industry.‘ Coupled with Almac’s Shipping Temperature Electronic Monitoring System (STEMS), which allows for same day temperature data, Almac delivers a comprehensive and reliable solution for cold chain distribution.

Further assistance in managing the supply chain for cold materials can be achieved through the utilisation of Almac’s in-house Supply Chain Management (SCM) team.  The SCM team will have visibility of and be responsible for managing the entire supply chain and will optimise the size and frequency of shipments of cold material, working with clients to develop transit routes that mitigate the risk of temperature excursion during shipment. Ultimately this allows Almac to create and deliver a more efficient process for temperature sensitive materials.

Commenting on these recent developments, Martin Lamb, Vice President of Business Development, said “Our suite of leading cold chain solutions is a response to the growing customer demand for clinical services for temperature sensitive materials. Our goal is to provide closed loop cold-chain solutions tailored towards our customer’s individual needs, remaining mindful that we are servicing an industry wherein effectiveness and efficiency are increasingly sought after attributes.”

Contact a member of our Cold Chain Team today or visit our website for an overview on Almac’s cold chain services.

Notes to Editors

About Almac Group

The Almac Group provides a broad range of services from R&D, biomarker discovery and development, API manufacture, formulation development, clinical trial supply, and IXRS® technology (IVRS/IWRS), to commercial-scale manufacture. Almac provides services to more than 600 companies, including all the world leaders in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors.

The company employs over 3,300 individuals and is headquartered in Craigavon, Northern Ireland. US operations are based in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and California