How to Properly Transport Pharmaceuticals

According to Georgetown University, 66 percent of adults in America use prescription drugs to aid their health. That amounts to more than 131 million individuals who fit somewhere along the spectrum between benefiting from and needing medicines. Also, the older someone gets, the more likely they are to fill more than one prescription at a time.

Cancer patients, people with heart complications, and those with mental health conditions rely on secure access to their meds. Individuals who suffer from diabetes have an acute dependence on insulin and other pharmaceuticals to maintain their quality of life.

Many of these medicines cannot sustain exposure to extreme heat or cold. For this reason, you must find creative solutions for transporting them to ensure the end consumer receives the full benefit of drugs they need. To systematically improve your shipping methods, here are four tips for safely transporting pharmaceuticals.

In an effort to standardize how companies transport drugs, large governing bodies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), and in some cases the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) formalize regulations. These apply to everyone involved—the shipper, loader, receiver, and carrier must understand their role in guaranteeing adherence to these regulations.

Within documents issued by these organizations are comprehensive instructions meant to preserve pharmaceutical integrity. They detail what paperwork must pass through whose hands as the product progresses from one leg of the journey to the next. This includes proper sanitation guidelines that, when shared, help everyone maintain shipping vehicles and medicines. Practically, these look like regular visual inspections for pests or product deterioration before loading and thorough cleanings after drop-off. Those responsible for cleaning must record their tasks so those down the line can know if they need to clean.

These regulations touch on proper packaging, as well.

Solid, double-walled corrugated boxes allow for strong yet lightweight containment. To fit each unique product, invest in custom-made boxes. Doing so also cuts down on superfluous packaging materials you would use to compensate for ill-fitting generic boxes.

To prevent jostling and resultant damage from inside the box, use with bubble wrap or air pillows. While both are helpful for any item, these are necessities for lugging sensitive substances and/or breakable containers. Glass vials that house insulin are one of several noteworthy examples here.

Using a temperature-controlled delivery vehicle helps to cool prescriptions without interference. Vermiculite absorbents can help control moisture during transportation.

Some substances, including living tissue or hemoglobin, require heavy-duty cryogenic coolers to stay at an extremely cold temperature. Far beyond the cooling capabilities of a refrigerated vehicle, these coolers can freeze lower than -150 degrees Celsius to achieve this classification.

While packaging protects products from direct physical or temperature-related damage, they typically cannot function alone. You must have a large-scale structure to store shipments in as well as precise cooling technology you can easily monitor and adjust. To fill this need and keep things cool for the entire trip, you need a refrigerated delivery vehicle or full fleet of refrigerated delivery trucks. Emerald Transportation Solutions offers temperature-controlled delivery vehicles ranging in size from a van to larger trucks capable of hauling up to 15,000 pounds, you pick what you need. Better yet, with Emerald Transportation Solutions, you can build your own refrigerated vehicle to fit your unique shipments.

The two keys to a refrigerated truck or van are insulation and refrigeration. Their trailer or cargo area comes completely sealed off from outside heat and cold as well as pests, mold, humidity, and grime. With this insulation in place, the simple refrigeration system can kick on and keep pharmaceuticals in good shape no matter what’s happening outside.

Training your staff to rigorously follow these guidelines helps ease the at-times complicated shipping process. Just as important, doing so increases the likelihood you can deliver effective medications and gain client trust.

If you have specific questions about how a temperature- controlled delivery vehicle can help you transport your specific medical shipments, contact our Emerald Transportation Solutions team. We have decades of experience providing all kinds of businesses the exact vehicles they need to improve. Better yet, we pride ourselves on our lightweight chassis, which saves you money at the pump and ups your company’s environmental friendliness.