India’s growing pharmaceutical sector is part of a worldwide effort to stamp out preventable diseases.
In April, the world marked the launch of World Immunisation Week, a global public health campaign by the World Health Organization (WHO) with the aim of increasing rates of immunisation and ensuring that every person is protected against vaccine-preventable diseases around the world.
Immunisation programmes currently avert two to three million deaths a year, but over one and half million could be avoided if vaccination coverage improved.
As part of India’s role in this battle, IAG Cargo is celebrating its partnership with Biological E.Limited, a prominent biopharmaceutical company based in Hyderabad, India.
The manufacturer transports millions of vaccines to over 90 countries throughout the world under stringent temperature controlled conditions from laboratory to final gateway.
According to IAG Cargo global head – pharmaceuticals and life sciences, Alan
Dorling the airline has a track record in helping the Indian manufacturer reach its overseas markets.
Dorling says: “We have been a preferred airfreight carrier for temperature controlled solutions for several years and work through a tripartite partnership with them, and their primary freight forwarders. These tripartite relationships give the shipper the transparency and confidence they need, as well as helping to create a seamless supply chain.”
Biological E.Limited COO, Lakshminarayana Neti comments: “Having a trusted supply chain partner is ever so crucial. IAG Cargo has been an extremely reliable partner. Two billion doses of delivery across 90-odd different countries and there have been no failures what so ever.
“The most significant vaccine by volume that we transport is the pentavalent vaccine, which contains five vaccines in one, targeting diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B and haemophilus influenza type B.”
This traffic equates to some 300 tonnes of the most perishable and delicate consignments, notes Dorling.
IAG Cargo has several tripartite partnerships with organisations such as Serum Institute of India and all major generic manufacturers and biosimilar producers.
“The nature of pharmaceutical supply chains results in the movement of goods into and out of India. We airfreight some of the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API’s) predominantly form US, Europe and South America into India for production locally,” says Dorling.
“Temperature controlled airfreight will continue to grow strongly for the foreseeable future due to the increasing volumes of Vaccines, Insulin and Biologics for cancer immunotherapy treatments. Regulation of both EU GDP Guidelines and future FDA GDP requirements will drive standards and inevitably mode of transport and packing solution chosen up the value chain.
“Regulation of both EU GDP Guidelines and future FDA GDP requirements will drive standards and inevitably mode of transport and packing solution chosen up the value chain.”
IAG has a global network of 108 Quality approved (GDP and IATA TCR compliant) gateways which meets the majority of the key Pharma flows across the globe.
Dorling says: “We have an experienced dedicated vertical team of 32 people covering our global network of Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences flows with a blend of both Pharmaceutical and Cargo career experience and skills managing the business.
“Our Constant Climate product is our fastest growing Premium Product in IAG Cargo and will remain a key focus of investment for IAG Cargo to ensure we can always meet the needs of our shippers and freight forwarders for time and temperature precision airfreight services.”
India produces a huge variety of products for the global economy, many of which travel with IAG Cargo.
These range from healthcare OTC products all the way through to textiles and technology.
IAG Cargo carries vaccines for:
• Yellow Fever to Brazil and Africa
• Small Pox to Nigeria
• Pentavalent vaccines predominantly to Central and South American countries and India
• Polio to Syria and Africa, Ebola to the US
• Prevanar 13 to the US, Europe and China and Polio vaccines to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria
