Thermo King recently expanded its portfolio of temporary storage solutions that can meet the unique requirements of global pharmaceutical companies developing COVID-19 vaccines.
Pharmaceutical companies in final-stage clinical trials anticipate they will require strict temperature controls to safeguard their products—down to temperatures as low as -70 degrees Celsius. Thermo King says its solutions enables these companies and their distributors to ensure the efficacy of their products through the entire cold chain, from air transport to marine, rail, trailer, last-mile delivery and at storage points along the way.
According to the World Health Organization, nearly 20% of temperature-sensitive health care products are damaged during transport, and 25% of vaccines reach their destination in a degraded state due to breaks in the cold chain.
“Considering the urgent, global need for a COVID-19 vaccine, the world can’t afford breaks in the cold chain,” said Dave Regnery, president and chief operating officer of Trane Technologies. “Our new cold storage solutions can maintain temperatures of -70 degrees Celsius for an extended period of time, can be leveraged to help reduce degradation of a vaccination, and most importantly, could prevent vaccine ‘deserts’ or lack of accessibility.”
Thermo King and its partners can offer temporary storage solutions that maintain a set point down to -70 degrees Celsius, and can ensure end-to-end temperature control, security and traceability through state-of-the-art telematics, the company maintained. Additional storage solutions include refrigerated trailers, containers and portable cubes that can be scaled and repositioned to other locations as demand changes.
In addition to launching cold storage solutions, Thermo King helped customers identify ways to maximize the range of dry ice, which is often used in vaccine transport and storage but has certain limitations. A container using dry ice to keep a product frozen may require re-icing if it sits for an extended length of time or is exposed to extreme ambient weather. Thermo King offers storage solutions that can substantially extend the life of dry ice or eliminate the need altogether.
“We have been engaging pharmaceutical and transport companies, policymakers, regulators and other industry partners to discuss ways to strengthen the cold chain,” Regnery said. “We know that we can help mitigate risk. We have a long history in cold chain expertise and are actively working to innovate and address the complexities and potential challenges of the mass distribution of a temperature-sensitive vaccine.”
