Global Pharmaceutical Logistics Market Analysis and Forecast 2028

As per a report distributed by Grand View Research, the pharmaceutical logistics market is growing rapidly due to the increasing demand for a variety of medications driven by chronic and lifestyle-related diseases.

The global pharmaceutical logistics market size is expected to reach USD 138.9 billion by 2028, registering a CAGR of 8.5%. The growth is attributed to the rising demand for medications, the increased need for cold-chain and non-cold-chain logistics, and the impact of COVID-19 across the globe. During the pandemic, governments worldwide focused on preventing and treating patients, further driving the market growth.

The import and export of various COVID-19 treatments have surged, especially between countries like the U.S. and China. Furthermore, national logistics systems are under strain due to the heightened demand from hospitals and healthcare institutions. Regulatory authorities, such as the U.S. FDA, have approved emergency use of COVID-19 vaccines, which has increased global trade in pharmaceuticals.

Pharmaceutical Logistics Market Trends and Insights

Pharmaceutical logistics is a crucial part of the healthcare system, ensuring the safe handling and transportation of sensitive products. The equipment and services required in the pharmaceutical supply chain are highly costly. Collaborations between pharmaceutical companies to expand their reach are a rising trend in the industry.

Technological advancements, including cloud-based supply chain systems and blockchain, offer real-time data visibility and predictive analytics, allowing for improved supply chain optimization and risk management. These innovations also enhance operational efficiency, productivity, and company processes.

The U.S. led the market in 2020, and it is expected to maintain its dominance throughout the forecast period. The Asia Pacific region is projected to witness the highest CAGR due to increasing healthcare spending in emerging economies. Additionally, consumer spending on over-the-counter (OTC) pharmaceutical products is expected to boost market growth in this region.

Pharmaceutical Logistics Market Report Highlights

• Governments worldwide are focusing on ensuring adequate medicinal supplies for patients amid the pandemic, increasing cross-border pharmaceutical trade.
• Companies like Moderna, Serum Institute, and Pfizer have successfully completed COVID-19 vaccine trials, increasing demand for logistics services to distribute these vaccines.
• Cold-chain logistics services are expected to grow rapidly due to the rising adoption of temperature-sensitive drug products worldwide.
• Third-party logistics (3PL) services are gaining traction, providing integrated warehousing and transportation on an outsourced basis.
• Technological advancements in monitoring components such as RFID devices, telematics, and real-time shipment tracking are expected to grow significantly over the forecast period.
• Automation of refrigerated warehouses, using cloud technology, robots, conveyor belts, and energy management, is driving the market forward.

Pharmaceutical Logistics Market Segmentation

By Type (Revenue, USD Billion, 2017 - 2028)

• Cold Chain Logistics
• Non-cold Chain Logistics

By Component (Revenue, USD Billion, 2017 - 2028)

• Warehousing
• Refrigerated Container
• Transportation (Sea Freight, Airfreight, Overland Logistics)
• Monitoring Components (RFID Devices, Telematics, Networking Devices, Software)

Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2017 - 2028)

• North America
• Europe
• Asia Pacific
• South America
• Middle East and Africa (MEA)

Key Players in the Pharmaceutical Logistics Market

• Agility
• Air Canada
• CEVA Logistics
• DB Schenker
• Deutsche Post AG
• FedEx
• LifeConEx
• Marken
• United Parcel Service of America, Inc.
• VersaCold Logistics Services

Exclusive Distribution Agreement for MyCare Psychiatry Assays in Canada

Saladax Biomedical Announces Exclusive Distribution Agreement in Canada

Saladax Biomedical, Inc. (Saladax) is pleased to announce an exclusive distribution agreement with HLS Therapeutics Inc. (HLS) (TSX: HLS) to distribute five MyCare Psychiatry Laboratory Assays, used to measure the six most prescribed antipsychotic medications in Canada.

The MyCare Psychiatry Laboratory Assays are crucial diagnostic tools for monitoring a patient's antipsychotic drug blood levels. These medications can have adverse effects if the drug level is too high, and if the level is too low, the patient's condition may not be adequately treated.

Current methods for determining drug levels are not fast enough, limiting their clinical utility. Providing clinicians with quick antipsychotic drug tests will increase patient access to this important testing and assist healthcare providers in managing their patient's treatment. Traditionally, these tests were only available and performed by centralized reference laboratories using specialized instruments. As a result, by the time healthcare providers receive the results, the clinical utility of the tests is significantly reduced.

MyCare Laboratory Assays can be run on existing automated analyzers already present in most hospital laboratories, expanding access for patients and providing results quickly enough to offer clinical benefits.

Health Canada recently approved the MyCare Psychiatry Laboratory Assays to measure blood drug concentrations for clozapine, risperidone, paliperidone, aripiprazole, olanzapine, and quetiapine.

"The availability of our assays on a routine basis means that clinicians, for the first time, will have a useful diagnostic tool to aid in the management and optimization of their patient's treatment," said the President and CEO, and Founder of Saladax. "By advancing our partnership with HLS, we are confident that Canadians will now have increased access to this essential testing, which will assist clinicians in managing their patient's treatment."

Source: Saladax Biomedical, Inc.

Global Vaccine Disparities

Despite promises from many nations to provide vaccines to countries in need, vaccination disparities between wealthy and low-income nations remain stark. A key contributing factor has been identified by analysts.

COVID-19 has tested public health systems, and many have responded as expected. However, the vaccination rates differ significantly worldwide. According to the Our World in Data project at the University of Oxford, approximately 75% of distributed COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in wealthy countries, while only 0.6% of doses have gone to low-income countries, as reported by the New York Times.

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on wealthy nations, pharmaceutical companies, and international institutions to "step up" and address global vaccine inequality. "How is it that vaccination rates in the United States and Europe are around 60%, while in Africa, it is under 14%?" Blinken asked. "It's not just wrong; it's a huge problem."

Blinken praised the life-saving innovation of vaccine manufacturers like Johnson & Johnson (J&J), Moderna, and Pfizer-BioNTech but criticized the inequitable distribution of doses. "When it comes to distribution, involving various actors—governments, companies, international organizations—we have fallen short," Blinken said.

Blinken also argued that vaccine distribution could have been fairer if pharmaceutical companies had shared their intellectual property. However, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla countered on Tuesday, saying that the unequal distribution wasn't the company's fault, pointing out that doses were made available to all countries but wealthier nations placed orders faster.

US Commitment to Global Vaccine Donation

The United States has pledged to donate at least 1.1 billion doses to low-income countries by 2023. So far, the U.S. has delivered 216.5 million doses globally, with 18 million doses yet to be delivered and 865.5 million remaining doses pledged to low-income countries, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF).

Of the doses delivered, 141 million have gone to lower-middle-income countries, 46.9 million to upper-middle-income countries, 21.4 million to low-income countries, and 7.3 million to high-income countries. KFF reports that 46% of the delivered doses were Pfizer-BioNTech, 31% were Moderna, 16% were Janssen Pharmaceuticals (a division of J&J), 2% were AstraZeneca, and 5% were unknown.

The Global Covid-19 Access Tracker

Blinken announced the launch of the Global Covid-19 Access Tracker, which aggregates global data on vaccine and ICU rates. He also revealed that the U.S. and J&J had reached an agreement to deliver additional vaccine doses to "conflict zones."

"We must ensure that those who cannot be reached by government vaccination campaigns are not left behind," Blinken said. "They need to be protected too."

Challenges to Equitable Vaccine Distribution

Despite donation commitments from the U.S. and other wealthy nations, research firm Airfinity identified another reason for global vaccine inequality: Wealthy nations appear to be purchasing more COVID-19 vaccine doses than they are using.

While countries and pharmaceutical companies have not disclosed the details of their vaccine purchase contracts, Airfinity compared wealthy nations' COVID-19 vaccine production numbers with the number of vaccines they have used.

Rich countries like Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and European Union members have produced significantly more doses than they have used. According to Airfinity, between one-third and one-half of these countries' vaccines are going unused, with some nearing expiration, as reported by NPR's "Goats and Soda."

The World Health Organization (WHO) previously called for countries to delay administering booster shots until at least 10% of every country's population was vaccinated. However, the stockpile in wealthy countries is expected to continue growing into next year, even after accounting for booster doses and child vaccinations.

By the end of this year, the surplus is projected to reach 1.2 billion doses. Nonetheless, Airfinity's CEO noted that about 600 million doses will be donated to other countries, with around 300 million coming from the United States.

The Road Ahead

Notably, Airfinity reported that this stockpile would have been sufficient to meet the WHO's goal of vaccinating at least 40% of the population in lower-income countries—a goal that is becoming "increasingly unlikely" to be met.

Spimaco's Pharmaceutical Warehouse Automation Success

To look at it today, you'd never guess that Spimaco's gleaming pharmaceutical production and storage facility in Qassim, Saudi Arabia, was once its biggest obstacle to growth. But that was indeed the case. Just some years back, the power was a cramped, manual operation that was struggling to stay pace with the company's daily throughput needs never mind provide room to grow.

For company leaders, those constraints were fast becoming a cause for concern. That concern eventually led to the choice to give the facility, which was inbuilt 1988, a much-needed makeover and convey it into the 21st century. Spimaco tapped Germany-based Lödige Industries, a manufacturer of fabric handling solutions, for the work of modernizing the operation. After some consultation, the partners chose the automation and expansion route: that's, they decided to reinforce the existing facility with the addition of an automated high-bay distribution and storage center.

OLD VS. NEW

The first step for the Lödige team was to conduct a detailed analysis of Spimaco's existing infrastructure and processes in order to determine what equipment and systems would best meet its future needs. Acting as a general contractor for the installation, Lödige then designed and implemented new handling and fulfillment systems incorporating solutions from different suppliers into one custom-made system where necessary.

The results of its efforts are a new state-of-the-art warehouse that allows for palletizing, picking, automated storage and retrieval, and therefore the dispatch of pharmaceutical goods in full compliance with pharmaceutical regulations. Among other upgrades, the power features more than 5,000 storage spaces, several hundred meters of conveyors for cases and pallets, two palletizing robots, and over 30 automated shuttle vehicles.

To make sure the new facility ran smoothly across all production lines during the initial period of operation, Lödige maintained operational management of the power and provided "resident maintenance" services as well.

A MULTITUDE OF BENEFITS

The results of the project are impressive. With the new automated systems in situ, Spimaco has almost doubled its throughput rates for handling finished goods. additionally, the upgrade has given the corporate full inventory control and high-quality track and trace programs, while improving its ability to handle extremely delicate products governed by strict industry rules and regulations.

In the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, having a highly capable infrastructure has helped the corporate to grow and prosper. "Our old distribution center was starting to limit our capabilities. But now with the new facility, we've modernized the existing systems, and our potential for growth has become unlimited," said, chief military officer of Spimaco, during a statement. "Since pharmaceutical products are very sensitive, it had been important to have a highly reliable solution.

Carbon Neutral Pharma Warehouse

To support its impact in serving pharma clients in Central Europe, Maersk, an integrated logistics organization that offers warehousing and distribution services, is launching its second dedicated warehouse in Poland, designed specifically for the pharma sector with an emphasis on carbon neutrality.

The project includes a second pharmaceutical warehouse as part of its existing warehousing and distribution center in the Polish city of Mszczonów, expected to be operational by the end of June 2021.

Equipped with a temperature-control system to ensure the safety of sensitive cargo, the new facility will largely be powered by renewable energy, in alignment with the company’s sustainability and carbon neutrality initiatives. The warehouse will also have an integrated quality management system (QMS) based on Good Distribution Practices (GDP) and ISO certifications.

Additionally, the facility will offer repackaging services and efficient transportation options across multiple temperature ranges (ambient, cold, liquid nitrogen, and dry ice).