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Profile Keeping cool, staying ahead


Pharmaceuticals may be big business but at the end of the day, it is all about taking care of the patient – and that applies to the supply chain too, where Pharmafreight has built an award winning service


“Unique is a strong word, but we do offer something more than other freight forwarders,” said Andy Hughes, commercial director at Heathrow-headquartered Pharmafreight – winner of the 2017 BIFA Cool Award. That ‘something’ goes right back to the


beginnings of Pharmafreight, as Hughes explained. Noting that the pharmaceuticals industry is driven by regulation to ensure patient safety, he said: “We have always worked to keep up with the same standards the pharma companies have to meet, and that is where we are quite innovative. “Back in 2000, our managing director had


friends and clients in the pharma industry and this gave him an understanding of what they have to do; that was the start of Pharmafreight [Hughes joined the company in 2003]. “You have got GMP [good manufacturing


practice], which relates to hygiene, equipment and everything else around how medicines are made to ensure they have the same medicinal efficacious effect every time they are taken, and to ensure patient safety. “Then you have got GDP [good distribution


practice], which relates to the storage and transportation of medicines. Our desire right from the beginning was to comply with the same regulations as the pharma companies.”


Slow start At the start, Hughes said there “was not much interest in this” from Pharmafreight’s clients, simply because at that time there was no obligation to comply with GDP. However: “Since 2013, certainly in the UK, companies have to work with specialists. It is hard work [maintaining GDP certification]. “There are regular audits and you can lose


your licence if you are not conforming. These are not just ‘guidelines’ – it is the law and you


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can be prosecuted,” he remarked. Pharmafreight has also written a guide for its


own part in the supply chain, which it calls Good Transportation Practice (GTP). The company’s aim is to match and beat the quality systems created and executed by pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors on a global scale. Currently, it is really only the big forwarders


that have the funds and resources to obtain and adhere to GDP certification, so as a small privately owned company, Pharmafreight is unusual. Getting everything set up before going to market took a great deal of investment and training; now, the company employs a member of staff to audit all of its partners around the world for GDP compliance. One of the key reasons for Pharmafreight’s


success in the BIFA Awards was its collaborative approach, bringing together suppliers, clients and end-users. Hughes explained: “We are a transport


Working together, manufacturers and the supply chain can achieve better results for the patient


company – we do not have, for instance, all the stability data that the manufacturers have for their products. The manufacturers have all that data, but they lack our specialist knowledge.” Working together, manufacturers and the


supply chain can achieve better results for the patient. Hughes gives the example of an oncology product that was manufactured at several sites in the UK and Europe by a US- based company, which came to Pharmafreight for help in transporting the temperature- sensitive drug.


Packaging solutions “First, the ingredients had to be kept within a range of -60°C to -80°C during transit from the US to Northern Ireland,” Hughes said. Pharmafreight worked with a manufacturer of temperature-controlled packaging solutions to design a means of achieving this. “From Northern Ireland, the ingredients had to


be moved (at -60°C) to Scotland and back, then on to France or Italy where the product was put into vials and could be kept within a +2°C to +8°C range. It was then flown back to Northern Ireland and on to the US in Envirotainers.” The successful completion of the project


helped towards the success of the manufacturer and its drug, with trials hitting the headlines, Hughes noted. Remembering another project – bringing


untrialled vaccines into the UK for medical staff evacuated from West Africa during the Ebola crisis – he concluded: “We do not deliver direct to patient (because of licensing) but occasionally we do have jobs that remind us of the reality of who we are really serving.”


April 2018


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