LogiPharma 2025 Blog » Industry News

In this first edition of our monthly news roundups, we take a look at why the FDA are concerned with the pharmaceutical supply chain, the role that data will play in the future of a successful and resilient supply chain, and Controlant's growth taking the next step with their expansion into Denmark.

Wegovy is set to take the UK by storm after being approved by the NHS. But who is eligible, how does it work and what are the side effects of the ground-breaking weight loss drug?

Orphan drugs are starting to grow at a rate which is rapidly outpacing that of mainstream drugs and this previously peripheral pharma market is making investors sit up and pay attention.

The new drug, sabatolimab (MBG453), manufactured by Novartis to treat myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) has just been granted orphan drug status by the European Commission.

Sanofi has recently announced that its landmark efanesoctocog alfa treatment for haemophilia A has been granted breakthrough therapy designation by the USA’s Food and Drug Administration.

The best way to distribute vaccines to the furthest regions of the world has been a top priority for pharma brands since the onset of the global COVID-19 crisis. With supply chains suffering significant challenges as a direct result of the pandemic, the need for innovative solutions has rarely been more essential.

To meet the unprecedented volatility in the global supply chain market brought about by the COVID-19 crisis, Freightos Data – a subsidiary of the Freightos Group has made moves to provide increased levels of transparency and support decision making processes.

When pharma heavyweight, GlaxoSmithKline [GSK] was searching for a new distribution centre from which it could serve the pharmaceutical needs of the Southern Cone, it decided to turn to a country it knew could deliver on the high standards it expects.

A recent panel of pharmaceutical and logistics experts have called for fresh thinking in the wake of increased challenges around sea freight.

Much has been made of the need to supply less developed parts of the world with COVID-19 vaccines with many experts agreeing that until Africa is vaccinated, the crisis will never be truly over.

As one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical brands, Johnson & Johnson knows it needs to be seen to be doing its bit when it comes to creating a more sustainable world.

The temperature-controlled transportation of pharmaceuticals, life-science and biotech products is now even easier thanks to the latest launch from Tower Cold Chain – a robust lightweight handleable solution with the same reliable thermal protection and reusable durability of Tower’s container existing range.

Listening to customers’ needs, Tower Cold Chain has developed the KTEvolution, robust, reliable, and reusable cold chain solution, which can easily be carried by 1 or 2 people.

MAERSK PHARMA leads the way for Air to Ocean conversion – A RELIABLE SOLUTION

Supply chains are struggling with fragmentation of data, low visibility, and low levels of collaboration between partners, which is costly to organize. By using technology, we see an opportunity to support our customers’ evolving needs and future growth. Supply chains are struggling with fragmentation of data, low visibility, and low levels of collaboration between partners, which is costly to organize. By using technology, we see an opportunity to support our customers’ evolving needs and future growth.

As a biopharmaceutical company advancing innovative medicines to prevent and treat life-threatening diseases, Gilead Sciences Inc. has a vested interest in making sure its products are able to reach those who need them in the most effective manner possible. 

A consortium of public and private companies, including pharma industry titans such as GSK and AstraZeneca and tech brands such as Siemens have been awarded part of a £53 million grant from the UK Government’s UK Research and Innovation body and the Made Smarter initiative.

As the largest and most broadly based healthcare company in the world, Johnson & Johnson manufactures consumer health products, pharmaceuticals and medical devices in state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities and has been felling the supply chain challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic especially keenly.

Pharmaceutical giant, Johnson & Johnson has developed an Advanced Case Management [ACM] platform which uses a combination of image based and artificial intelligence algorithms to predict the product range most likely to be required for a primary joint replacement surgery.

As one of the key players in the fight against the global COVID-19 crisis, Pfizer understands better than most the catastrophic impact the pandemic has had on our ability to move pharmaceutical products around the world.

The last two years have seen AstraZeneca go from pharmaceutical heavyweight to household name thanks to its production and distribution of one of the two primary COVID-19 vaccines being deployed around the world.

Roche has also been on a significant COVID related journey during the pandemic, hitting new height of public awareness when its high-volume SARS-COV-2 diagnostic test, capable of analysing 1,400-8,800 samples within 24h gained FDA approval during the preliminary stages of the crisis in 2020.

Another superstar of the COVID crisis, the geniuses at Pfizer has been working tirelessly to develop a new vaccine for the latest variant of the SARS-COV-2 virus – Omicron.

Industry 4.0 is changing the face of manufacturing in almost every corner of the globe. Here’s how the pharmaceutical industry can make the most of these exciting new opportunities.

Reducing the time to market for medicine is a core goal of the pharmaceutical industry, and by playing its part in a new innovation centre GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is helping develop the new technologies and processes to get remedies to the people who need them more efficiently than ever.

As medical technology has advanced, mankind has been able to find cures for more and more of the diseases which plague us. From mass-immunisation to the successful blocking and treatment of the HIV virus, the pharmaceutical industry is creating new ways to help patients live full and active lives for longer.

The COVID-19 crisis has posed a laundry list of challenges for the pharmaceutical logistics space. However, it has also given the opportunity for success and celebration – such as with the successful rollout of Pfizer’s lifesaving vaccine.

Now experts are saying that the mRNA technology which makes the Pfizer vaccine so effective, may open up the possibility for new personalised treatments in the field of oncology.

Data is the lifeblood of so many modern industries and can help drive business forward with the ability to make smarter and evidence backed decisions and gain greater insights into the end user.

With so many of the world’s rarest and hardest to treat diseases being caused by genetic defects, the ability to create and deliver personalised gene therapy treatments is the key to curing them forever.

As one of the world’s largest health concerns, Malaria was responsible for an estimated 409,000 deaths in just one year – with children under five years old accounting for 67% of those deaths.

One of the more recent challenges to emerge from the COVID-19 crisis has been regarding how to make sure everyone around the globe that needs a vaccine has access to one.

Supply chain disruptions are causing stocks of Roche’s tocilizumab arthritis drug used to treat COVID-19 to run low and the WHO is urging the pharmaceutical giant to address the situation.

Despite their size and global impact, it’s interesting the way brands such as Pfizer have only really become household names as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and their development of the vaccines and treatments which would eventually allow normalcy to start returning to our lives.

Johnson & Johnson believes human health and the health of the planet are not separate considerations, but rather depend on one another. This led the pharmaceutical and cosmetics giant to launch an $800 million Healthy Lives Mission in the latter part of 2020.

As one of the world’s leading producers of medicinal cannabis, Flora Growth understands all too well the importance of a modern and secure digital supply chain.

India’s Government eMarketplace (GeM) was launched by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in 2016 in an effort to make government procurement more open and transparent than was previously possible. And now the cashless and paperless procurement platform has turned its attention towards blockchain.

The UK Government and key players in the pharmaceutical industry have announced plans to create the countries first digital supply chain. The initiative will make use of blockchain technology and seeks to ensure that any future health crises similar to the COVID-19 pandemic will be more effectively managed from a supply chain perspective.

It’s fair to say we’ve all been on a steep learning curve thanks to the COVID-19 crisis, but one facet which may not immediately spring to mind relates to cyber security. Cyber criminals have become incredibly skilled at identifying and exploiting the weak links in pharmaceutical supply chains.

Much has been reported regarding the success of the vaccine rollout in the UK, but there have also been criticisms levelled at all countries in the developed world regarding the relatively small number of vaccines being distributed among poorer nations.

The business of sending all kinds of goods and materials in and out of Ireland has been fundamentally altered by Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic. Logistics providers in all industries are having to evolve the ways, completely and permanently, they do business to make sure essential products – such as vaccines and medicines – can keep flowing into the country.

While most people have heard of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, not many people know about or understand blockchain – the technology which underpins them.

Continuing from our discussion on blockchain technology and its application in temperature-controlled pharmaceutical logistics, in order to effectively monitor the temperature of a shipment from source to end user, you need a reliable method of measurement.

One of the factors which made the COVID-19 crisis so hard to deal with, was how unprepared we were for a pandemic of this magnitude. While scientists had long suggested that viruses were the greatest threat to our species, and many had been making some preparations for an eventuality such as this, we were still woefully unprepared when SARS-COV-2 came knocking.

One of the biggest challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the need to rollout a vaccination program to more people than ever before. Attempting to vaccinate just shy of eight billion people is no mean feat and the project has tested pharmaceutical supply chains to breaking point.

As one of the companies producing vaccines for the COVID-19 crisis, J&J has a special responsibility when it comes to making sure its supply chains continue to operate as smoothly as possible.

As one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical brands, Roche understands all too well how much energy it takes to keep life-saving medicines, vaccines, and its recently patented SARS-COV-2 variant test moving.

As one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical brands, Johnson & Johnson has been in the vanguard of the pandemic response since the very beginning of the crisis. To achieve its goals, the pharma giant has been deploying several innovative tools and processes to make sure its life saving products get where they need to be.

As the world’s largest biotech company, Roche has a responsibility to make sure it sets an example to others in the industry at all levels of its operations. To further this goal, it has recently deployed OMP’s digital supply chain planning solution.

Pharmaserv Logistics´ pharma distribution centre for storing, x-raying and packing pharmaceutical airfreight within Rhine-Main has opened in 06/2020.

After receiving authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Emergency Use of its single-shot vaccine against COVID-19, Johnson & Johnson is now facing up to the logistical challenges of making good on its promise to deliver 100 million doses of the drug to patients in the US during the first half of 2021.

The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine has been authorised for the prevention of the virus in individuals aged 16 and above, by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), under an Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA). More broadly, there remains a huge demand for the Pfizer treatment and other COVID-19 drugs in poorer and more remote parts of the world, where temperature control becomes difficult.