Drug cold chain transportation ushers in significant development
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the reform and opening up, and "logistics" has gone through a forty year development process from being officially introduced as a concept to becoming a fundamental, strategic, and leading industry in the national economy. Over the past forty years, the living standards of the Chinese people have been continuously improving, and their economic income has been increasing. The pursuit of quality of life has gradually shifted from being full to eating well. The upgrading of consumption has also driven the development process of cold chain logistics in China from scratch.
This year is also the tenth anniversary of the Beijing Olympics, and 2008 can be said to be the first year when China's cold chain industry entered the fast track of development. A group of cold chain logistics enterprises have been established and grown like mushrooms after a rain. The relevant national departments and local governments attach great importance to the cold chain logistics industry, and have successively introduced multiple industrial policies and matched financial funds to support it. The level of cold chain logistics in China has correspondingly been greatly improved, and this decade should be considered as the decade when China's cold chain industry has grown from small to large.
From scratch, from small to large, over the past 40 years, with the takeoff of China's economy and the enhancement of national security awareness, the development of China's cold chain industry has shown many positive changes in 2018.
In recent years, with the improvement of medical security level, the demand for drugs in the medical market has gradually increased, and China has become the third largest pharmaceutical market in the world. According to the released report, the total amount of pharmaceutical logistics in China in 2017 was 3.02 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.3%. It is expected that by 2020, the total amount of pharmaceutical logistics in China will reach 3.8 trillion yuan, and the pharmaceutical market size for cold chain transportation of drugs may reach 120 billion yuan. The pharmaceutical market size for cold chain transportation in China will be very broad in the future.
According to relevant data, the sales amount of pharmaceutical cold storage products such as vaccines, injections, tinctures, oral drugs, topical drugs, and blood products accounts for about 10% of the total sales revenue of pharmaceutical circulation enterprises in China, with huge market space.
Although the market is large, it also faces challenges. Due to the extremely strict requirements for the effectiveness and storage conditions of pharmaceutical products, the development of cold chain has been providing "protection" for pharmaceutical products in a "warm and not hot" manner over the years.
Due to the extremely strict requirements for the effectiveness and storage conditions of pharmaceutical products, the development of cold chain has been providing "protection" for pharmaceutical products in a "warm and not hot" manner over the years.
The pharmaceutical cold chain is not an easy field to enter, and has extremely strict requirements for transportation and temperature. Once temperature abnormalities occur during transportation, irreversible consequences can occur. According to data released by the National Drug Administration, nearly 20% of drug quality problems are related to cold chain logistics. As of now, there are still a few pharmaceutical cold chain transportation enterprises in China that can cover the whole country. Medical logistics is different from common consumables logistics, and there are strict regulations for medical logistics internationally. The "The Blood Cold Chain" issued by WHO sets extremely strict blood temperature limits in the guidelines for blood station organization. This guideline stipulates that whole blood and red blood cells must be stored in an environment of 2 to 8 ° C, platelets must be stored at 22 ° C, and fresh frozen plasma must be stored below -20 ° C to ensure the activity and safety of blood component products.
In practical situations, products such as fresh frozen plasma that require extremely high refrigeration temperatures will face stricter cold chain control. Because temperature recorders only exist inside containers, products undergo multiple loading and unloading processes throughout the entire logistics process, which are difficult to control or monitor.
So in order to avoid damage to drugs and vaccines during loading and unloading, companies must set lower temperatures for the containers to avoid losses caused during the loading and unloading process. The difficulty of pharmaceutical cold chain delivery lies in going through multiple logistics links, where different transportation resources and information systems are used. To achieve information sharing and full process temperature control of drug circulation, it is necessary to have unified standards and the ability to execute them. This includes the validation of temperature controlled warehouses, temperature controlled vehicles, refrigerated boxes, insulated boxes, and temperature monitoring systems involved in the cold chain logistics of pharmaceutical products.
In order to address the current situation of uneven pharmaceutical cold chain logistics in China, relevant national regulatory authorities have formulated multiple standards, which clearly stipulate the management of "storage and transportation of refrigerated and frozen drugs", "automatic temperature and humidity detection and verification management", and require standardization. According to public information, as of the end of 2017, there were over 40 standards related to pharmaceutical logistics (including local standards). With the increase of relevant standards, the standardization system of pharmaceutical logistics, including pharmaceutical logistics facilities and equipment, will become increasingly perfect.
With the support of the new healthcare reform and related policies, the continuous growth of the pharmaceutical market not only promotes rapid growth of enterprises, but also provides momentum for the development of pharmaceutical logistics and its cold chain, which will further promote the vigorous development of the medical cold chain and its associated equipment and technology.
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