Inside lab logistics: From clinical trials to specialty treatments

From home-based patients to fast-moving therapies, the pharmaceutical world is transforming at an increasingly rapid pace. Decentralization and rapid innovation are driving this trend.

Clinical trials are no longer tied to central labs and hospitals. With new decentralized designs and direct-to-patient services, patients can participate from home – receiving investigational medical products (IMPs) by courier and checking in via app or video call. At the same time, major breakthroughs in pharmaceutical research have led to a new generation of advanced treatments, offering hope to people with chronic, complex, or rare diseases. These therapies – like biologics or cell and gene therapies – are often highly sensitive and must be handled with extreme care.

Together, these shifts are creating new challenges for lab logistics. They require specialized logistics solutions and smarter, more agile supply chains. The success of the trial or the therapy could depend on it.

With stakes this high, what does it take to deliver world-class lab logistics? From hand-delivering IMPs across town to express air shipping radiopharmaceuticals across oceans, let’s take a close look. 

Laboratory logistics serves two mission-critical phases of a medicine’s journey: clinical development and commercial distribution. While the ultimate goal is the same – safe, secure, and compliant transport – the needs of each phase differ in scope and complexity. Here’s what distinguishes high-performing lab logistics at both stages.

1. Lab supply chains designed for decentralized models
   As trials shift toward decentralized models – with direct-to-patient services, more diverse participant profiles, and adaptive structures – lab logistics must evolve in parallel. Coordinating materials, specimens, and IMPs across homes, clinics, and labs requires flexible, patient-centric supply chains built for speed, control, and compliance.
2. A quality-led, specimen-centric approach
   Each biological sample has unique transport requirements. From fragile swabs to cryogenic cell therapies, today’s lab logistics cannot treat every specimen transport the same. The solution must align with the biological profile and clinical relevance of every shipment.
3. Validated temperature control
   Precision is critical. Pre-validated containers, thermal sensors, and redundant safeguards help keep the ambient temperature of specimens within tightly controlled ranges – from refrigerated (2–8°C) to ultra-frozen (-196°C) – even across multiple handovers and time zones.
4. Specialized, trained lab couriers
   Lab logistics requires people. Certified medical couriers, trained in specimen transport, labeling, and biosafety protocols, help maintain sample integrity throughout the chain of custody. Proper handoff procedures and documentation are essential.
5. Regulatory expertise and cross-border capabilities
   Clinical specimen transport is highly regulated and often crosses borders. Leading lab logistics providers ensure up-to-date labeling, documentation, and customs clearance for each specimen class, aligned with regional and international requirements.
6. Real-time visibility and exception management
   Turnaround times can be tight in clinical trials. IoT-enabled monitoring and digital dashboards allow supply chain managers to track conditions, set automated alerts, generate detailed audit trails, and intervene if exceptions arise – giving labs and trial sponsors confidence and peace of mind.
7. Speed, agility, and scalability to match evolving demands
   Clinical trials are dynamic by nature – volumes shift, timelines tighten, and geographies expand. Lab logistics must respond quickly without compromising quality. That means having the infrastructure, contingency planning, and operational agility to scale up or pivot as needed, while staying consistent and compliant.

Once a therapy receives regulatory approval, the logistics requirements shift – but the stakes remain just as high. Here’s how lab logistics supports the safe, compliant delivery of specialty pharmaceuticals in the commercial phase.

1. Seamless transition from trial to therapy
   As IMPs move from lab to market, the logistics must adapt and scale, ensuring that the quality, traceability, and care established during clinical trials continue into full-scale commercial rollout.
2. Stringent cold chain and validated packaging
   Precision temperature control from origin to destination is just as critical in this phase of lab logistics. Just as during clinical trials, validated packaging and systems help protect the efficacy of the drug throughout transit.
3. End-to-end visibility and condition monitoring
   Advanced tracking tools and IoT-enabled sensors provide full shipment visibility, enabling rapid intervention when temperature or handling conditions deviate from protocol.
4. White-glove, patient-centric delivery
   Once approved, many specialty pharmaceuticals require personalized transport – often directly to clinics, pharmacies, or patients’ homes. White-glove services ensure safe and secure handovers of high-value or highly sensitive therapies.
5. Regulatory adherence across geographies
   Commercial pharmaceutical logistics requires strict quality control and documentation across markets, adhering to global and regional standards such as GDP and GMP. Regulatory compliance is essential at every stage of the supply chain.
6. Dedicated pharma logistics infrastructure
   Bringing all this together requires dedicated infrastructure – specialized pharmaceutical hubs like our DHL Health Logistics campus in Florstadt, Germany, which feature clean rooms, advanced storage zones, and GMP-compliant processes, and specialty courier services like CRYOPDP, with essential white-glove service networks.

Based on our 30+ years in health logistics, we think the following strategies are key to building resilient and reliable lab logistics and supply chain management systems:

• Be patient-centric: By focusing on the patient experience, you ensure the lab’s logistics benefit those who need it most.
• Specialize and customize: Design lab logistics to meet specific needs, such as direct-to-patient delivery or the transport of biological specimens. Align your operations with the specimen types, transport guidelines, and regional compliance needs.
• Leverage technology: End-to-end visibility requires advanced real-time tracking technologies, such as digital dashboards and IoT devices, along with a control tower to oversee it all and respond to exception alerts.
• Build contingency into lab supply chains: You never know what will happen. Disruption comes in many forms: weather, traffic, customs, and so on. Plan for them.

What does lab logistics look like in real life? Here’s just one example of how complex and critical life-saving lab logistics can be in a commercial setting, ensuring specialty treatments reach the patients who need them on time.

After months of careful planning, we tailored our Same-Day solution to deliver radioactive pharmaceuticals from Europe to Asia in under 24 hours. The medicine is for cancer patients – a mission-critical delivery, indeed. The team navigated everything from customs regulations to transport restrictions, ensuring compliance and efficiency every step of the way. We designed a process that is timed to the minute and monitored around the clock. For over a year now, we’ve managed a steady flow of these radiopharmaceutical shipments, with contingency plans in place for unforeseen challenges, such as flight cancellations or strikes.

Modern lab logistics is not reserved for the research bench. It’s a strategic enabler that supports both the discovery of new therapies and their global distribution. As labs face growing complexity, the need for partners who understand both science and supply chains has never been greater.

That’s where we come in. Through DHL Health Logistics, we connect these two critical phases – clinical and commercial – through an integrated network of infrastructure, expertise, and technology backed by over 11,000+ LSH-certified specialists.

Learn more about lab logistics for clinical trials and specialty pharmaceuticals.

The world of pharmaceuticals looks a lot different than it did even a few years ago. While modern clinical research becomes more decentralized and advanced treatments more specialized, lab logistics has become more complex than ever. The laboratory supply chain must move fast and adapt to the new realities.

World-class lab logistics – a central component of DHL Health Logistics – keeps pace with change, providing control, care, and clarity to connect today’s trials with tomorrow’s cures.