Balancing Effective Cold Chain Strategies Across The Supply Chain

By DDN

The “cold chain” is simply a supply chain with temperature requirements factored in. Cold chain (or, in some contexts, “cool chain”) encompasses the container of the product being shipped, the storage facilities (from point of manufacture to point of dispensation), and the transportation modes (air, ground, ocean). Pharma manufacturers are accustomed to complying with a body of knowledge and regulatory requirements that are labeled “current good manufacturing practices” (cGMP); in a like manner, companies handling transport of life sciences products are evolving a body of knowledge and rules coming to be known as “good distribution practices” (GDP). Cold chain can be considered a subset of cGMP, especially for storage or handling at the point of manufacturing; it can also be considered a subset of GDP for those rules specific to storage and transport.