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| home > epc > summer 2003 > it's in the bag: shipping infectious substances and diagnostic specimens by air made easy |
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European Pharmaceutical Contractor
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Developments in the past few years have multiplied the number of occasions when the need arises to ship infectious substances or diagnostic specimens over long distances. This is a direct result of globalisation and internationalisation. Look at the world map post-1989 and then again in the present day, and it is clear that market-driven economies, with a few exceptions, embrace the whole world. This combined with greater ease of transport, particularly air transport, and massive IT developments has made simple communication between centres thousands of miles apart possible for the first time. How recent this development is in the sphere of shipping infectious substances and diagnostic specimens is demonstrated by the fact that it was not until 1989 that the first packaging system anywhere in the world to be certified by a national authority for this purpose came on stream in Canada - interestingly, the same period that saw the global market take off.
Unfortunately, despite progressively more stringent regulation worldwide since 1989 and the availability of an ever widening range of shipper options, there is still a widespread ignorance about their availability, of training given to ensure their appropriate use, and of the regulations which control the movement of infectious substances and diagnostic specimens generally.
The result has been a growing number of disasters and near disasters involving this kind of activity. A good example occurred only recently in March, 2003 when a package labelled as containing West Nile virus exploded at a Federal Express facility in Columbus, Ohio and some 50 workers had to be evacuated in a hurry.
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Industry Events |
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4th Annual Patient Recruitment and Retention in Clinical Trials
13-15 October 2008, Amsterdam
Patient recruitment
is now consuming thirty percent of clinical trial time - more time than any
other clinical trial activity - and almost half of all trial delays result from
patient recruitment problems.
As the
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striving to discover new strategies to facilitate enrollment in clinical
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With
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Improving the patient recruitment process is imperative to avoid wasted
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News and Press Releases |
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MipTec, October 14 – 16, 2008, Switzerland
MipTec about to take off by joining forces between Life Sciences Week, ALL-SystemsX.ch-Day, & Jobvector.com
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