| Specifying a suitable controlled packaging solution when transporting temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals over short distances is becoming increasingly important, explains Geraint Thomas of Laminar Medica
Every day, packages containing temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals are dispatched from one location and delivered to another nearby. Whether travelling from a pharmacy to the local doctor’s surgery, or a storage facility to a beauty treatment centre, the sensitivity of these products is commonly overlooked due to the short distances and durations involved.
While pharmaceuticals shipped internationally across the globe are protected by sophisticated and effective temperature-controlled packaging systems, these types of solutions are typically not considered to be cost effective when the products are being taken just a few miles. The result is that short duration packaging solutions are either inadequate or, conversely, over-specified.
PADDED ENVELOPES
In order to cut costs, many organisations regularly use standard and inexpensive padded envelopes designed to offer physical protection only, with conventional ice packs inside in an attempt to control the temperature of the drugs being shipped. However, this type of over-simplified solution presents a number of significant problems to users.
Firstly, padded envelopes that are not designed to offer a controlled temperature environment for their contents offer no known levels of protection; it is impossible to reliably estimate how long a product will remain at its desired temperature and what temperature range the package will be capable of maintaining. Using padded envelopes therefore relies on guesswork, putting the integrity of the pharmaceuticals being sent at risk. |
