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Partner Profile: Pharma.aero

Profile submitted by Pharma.aero – TIACA Partner

 

 

 

Pharma.Aero, a non-profit organization with its headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, aims to achieve excellence in reliable end-to-end air transportation for Life Science and  Medtech shippers, by fostering collaboration between CEIV certified airport communities dedicated in developing and pioneering when it comes to handling, storage and air transportation of pharmaceuticals.

Pharma.Aero brings added value for the shipper by placing them as strategic priorities of Pharma.Aero, providing insights into the capabilities of the air cargo industry, as well as facilitating direct collaboration with the different air cargo stakeholders in the supply chain. Together, the organisation focuses on collaborative and continuous improvement of the Life Science and Medtech air cargo supply chain.

Pharma.Aero is an organisation that is proud to walk the talk. Jointly with our members, we co-ideate and co-develop projects that focus on end-to-end supply chain visibility solutions and address air transportation issues and challenges faced by the Life Science and  Medtech industry.  Since its inception in 2016, Pharma.Aero initiated and completed 6 projects. Consequently, technical papers for our members and white papers for the entire industry were published.

During the COVID-19 period, Pharma.Aero introduced a series of three consecutive webinars concentrating on the short-term impact of COVID-19 and the new normal of the air cargo Life Science and Medtech industry.

The first of the three-part webinar series touched on the knock-on impacts of COVID-19 on the air cargo supply chain for life sciences and MedTech industries. With significant cargo capacity gap and the urgent nature of pharma shipments, pharma shippers shared their strategies to overcome the initial capacity shortfall and to instil greater resiliency into their supply chain networks.

The second part of the webinar series addressed how Life Science and MedTech companies and air cargo industry can come together to overcome the supply chain challenges identified in the first webinar and uphold global supply chain standards post-COVID.

The third and last of the series examined the long-term scenarios and strategies which the Life Science and MedTech industry, as well as the air cargo industry, would be expected to adopt in instilling greater resilience within the supply chain post pandemic.

The Life Science and MedTech is a critical industry in saving lives, especially so in the current environment. COVID-19 has exposed the industry to unprecedented supply chain risks and challenges. Despite physical distancing being the norm in the current pandemic, the pharma supply chain and the air cargo industry should be holding hands and working closer more so than ever, to ensure that life-saving medical supplies are safely and reliably transported from manufacturing plants to patients. Supply chain collaboration comes in different forms – from supporting the community’s digitization initiatives through data-sharing to harmonization of standard and expectations. Collaboration should not be limited to bilateral relationships but should also extend to the global community to raise the standards of global pharma distribution network which has been Pharma.Aero’s mandate.

Developing agility and resilience in the life science supply chain can create a stronger sector for all partners involved. The demand for life science products is expected to grow in the next two decades and would represent a long-term opportunity for the Life Science and MedTech and air cargo industry. In order to capture and maximise the opportunity, the entire network – right from manufacturing to the global distribution – will need to come together and work collaboratively to ensure that the sector remains strong and agile, providing quality products to patients in a timely manner.

In these uncertain and unprecedented times, the air cargo industry is facing more risks than ever before. Winners within the airfreight industry, who survive this crisis, will be the ones who take the lead in thinking out of the box to improve their service offerings to their customers. The key success factors to ride out the crisis would be community collaboration, flexibility, transparency and harmonization of standards.

More recently, TIACA and Pharma.Aero decided to collaborate on a joint project to enable the optimal transportation of the COVID-19 vaccine.

For more information and details, visit www.pharma.aero.

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