SACHIN JAGDALE — Mumbai
Organisation of Pharmaceutical Produ-cers of India (OPPI) had recently organised a
seminar on ‘Stakeholders Engagement—Improving Cold Chain Management in Pharmaceutical Industry’. Held in Mumbai, the seminar was attended by stakeholders in large numbers. During the seminar many do’s and dont’s related to cold chain management in the pharma industry were discussed.
Tapan Ray, Director General, OPPI said, “With the growth of biological products across the world and with increasing demand for products like vaccines, hormones and insulin among others, it is becoming imperative that a careful consideration is given by the authorities and stakeholders for enhancing cold chain capability of India. The increasing number of heat sensitive pharma products prompts the relevance of having in place a robust pharma cold chain in the country.”
“Sensitech’s sponsorship of the OPPI Cold Chain conference centered on a common goal with the team at OPPI – engaging members from all stakeholders across the complex pharma supply chain. This goal was successfully accomplished by OPPI and Sensitech worked to bring in speakers from the World Health Organization, members of the US Pharmacopeia’s (USP) Pharmaceutical Cold Chain Interest Group (PCCIG), representatives from global drug manufacturers, including Abbott, Novartis, Ranbaxy, UCB India, MSD India Pharmaceuticals, Sanofi, and others, specialty couriers including World Courier, 3/4PLs including DHL, and UPS, regulators including a former Deputy Drug Controller from India, members of the All India Organization of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) as well as representatives from the International Air Cargo Complex, Mumbai,” said Henry Ames, Vice President, Strategy and Business Development, Sensitech.
OPPI has come up with its own set of guidelines for cold chain pharma products. It will be interesting to know how stakeholders respond to these guidelines. According to Ray, an efficient cold chain infrastructure and its efficient management within the country will help Indian domestic pharma companies immensely as they are exploring more opportunities to export pharma products in the global market. To achieve this objective, modern cold chain warehouses, their efficient management as per regulatory guidelines will play a key role in ensuring right product quality standard. “OPPI has published a guideline on cold chain pharma products for various stakeholders for proper storage and handling of cold chain products to ensure that the quality of the drugs is maintained during storage and transportation, and also meet the regulatory requirements. Greater initiative by the government in this area in collaboration with the pharma industry as a whole, sooner, is absolutely essential, for the patients’ sake,” said Ray.
OPPI is taking various initiatives for effective cold chain management in the pharma industry. To improve the Cold Chain Management in Mumbai and New Delhi airports, OPPI has initiated a dialogue with the major stakeholders, particularly, Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL) and Delhi International Airports Ltd (DIAL), where 80-90 per cent of the export and import trade of pharma activities take place.