From pills to precision treatments – and how new pharma logistics makes the difference

If you’re curious about how the pharmaceutical industry is evolving and what it means for logistics, then you’ve come to the right place. Let’s start by looking at lessons learned from the rise of e-commerce, which is an example of a similar transformation.

Online retail revolutionized shopping by offering unprecedented choice and convenience. People no longer had to physically go to the store to find products or buy things that didn’t fully meet their needs due to the limited selection. As the pharmaceutical sector offers more specialized treatments, patients are no longer collecting their medicines – often designed to treat a broad range of individuals – from their doctors or pharmacies. Instead, their medical treatments are being tailored to their individual needs – and delivered right to their doors or to specialized centers.

This shift is changing the patient experience much like e-commerce reimagined the customer experience – and it’s redefining pharma logistics much like online shopping reshaped retail supply chains. Let’s take a closer look at the transition from mass-market to personalized healthcare and illustrate it with an example.

The transformation from mass-market pharmaceuticals to specialized treatments is driven by the increase in more personalized and effective therapies. The industry is shifting its focus from a product-driven approach to a patient-needs-driven approach. Conventional drugs are widely available and stored at room temperature, but they often only address the symptoms of illness. In contrast, specialty pharmaceutical treatments use cutting-edge technology and are frequently tailored specifically to the patient. However, they often require storage at ultra-low temperatures and transport via specialized distribution networks.

This shift necessitates advanced logistics solutions to ensure these new therapies reach patients safely and efficiently.

The stark differences between mass-market pharma and specialty pharma can be illustrated by comparing a conventional and a specialty treatment.

Many conventional treatments, such as Hydroxyurea for sickle cell disease, are oral medications. They are often taken daily, widely available in pharmacies, and stored at room temperature.

A new specialty treatment for sickle cell disease, known as Casgevy, uses CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology to modify the patient’s stem cells to produce normal hemoglobin. It is administered as a one-time intravenous infusion at specialized centers and must be kept at ultra-low temperatures down to -196°C.

The comparison of Hydroxyurea and Casgevy highlights one of the most significant impacts of the transformation from mass-market to personalized healthcare. The logistics of mass-market medication is a world apart from personalized gene therapy. Specialty pharmaceuticals typically require stringent temperature controls and precise handling. This has implications across the entire supply chain – from the vehicles and facilities used to transport and store a therapy like Casgevy to the expertise of specialists certified in life science & healthcare logistics.

At DHL, we are investing heavily to meet the evolving needs of the pharmaceutical industry. With a strategic investment of €2 billion over the next five years, we aim to enhance our logistics capabilities in the life sciences and healthcare sector to ensure that we can deliver advanced therapies, such as gene and cell therapies, in optimal conditions.

Our investment will focus on:

• Integrated end-to-end logistics solutions for clinical trials and biopharma
• Expanding our temperature-controlled network with more frozen, deep frozen, and cryogenic storage
• Specialty courier services for first- and last-mile deliveries

Your butler for pharma logistics

A key component of our strategy is the acquisition of CRYOPDP, a leading specialty courier service for clinical trials, biopharma, and cell and gene therapies. This acquisition enhances our capabilities in handling time-critical and temperature-sensitive shipments, ensuring that these innovative treatments reach clinical sites, laboratories, hospitals, and patients in optimal condition. CRYOPDP’s expertise in white-glove courier services is essential for the specialized logistics required by the pharmaceutical industry.

Decades ago, our e-commerce logistics solutions were instrumental in enabling the online shopping boom. Today, as the pharmaceutical industry shifts from mass-market medications to specialty treatments, we stand ready to support the new patient-needs-driven approach.

As the comparison of Hydroxyurea and Casgevy shows, this shift presents significant logistical challenges. We’re meeting those challenges – expanding and consolidating our capabilities through strategic investments in infrastructure and capacity and uniting our global life sciences and healthcare expertise under our new DHL Health Logistics brand. By enhancing our logistics capabilities and focusing on patient-centric solutions, we are playing a crucial role in supporting the pharmaceutical industry’s evolution and ensuring that innovative treatments reach those who need them most.