Innovation, technology and healthcare-optimized transportation solutions make UPS the perfect supply chain partner for pharma companies.

It is estimated that by 2015, healthcare provision will be a more than trillion-dollar business worldwide, with the majority of market demand beyond North American borders. Yet, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, less than one percent of American healthcare companies export their products.

Many companies cite the challenges of effectively managing a global supply chain as an impediment to doing business overseas. Transportation modes, complex and constantly changing regulations, facilities, tracking and tracing, cold-chain requirements and customs can appear intimidating. What’s more, once a company finds itself trying to manage supply chains in multiple countries using multiple transportation providers, the difficulty in creating cohesion between the elements may quickly become evident.

The stakes can be high: Supply chain failures leading to product damage and spoilage can be expensive and potentially damaging to brands-not to mention possible consequences for the patient.

All of these challenges, however, can be addressed with effective systems, processes and expertise. A number of leading global healthcare corporations have found the most effective, timely and efficient means of achieving supply chain integration is to work with a global logistics integrator such as UPS.

Supply chain management is fundamentally about the uninterrupted, seamless flow of materials and data. UPS offers world-class, proven, healthcare-optimized national and international cold-chain transportation, distribution and information management. We can move inbound and outbound materials efficiently and safely through our flexible, integrated multi-modal transportation network and distribute products through our 37 facilities worldwide. With nearly six million square feet of warehouse space including temperature- and humidity-controlled environments, UPS can help ensure that products remain in optimal condition during storage.

UPS’s broad portfolio of services includes a range of temperature-sensitive services unique to healthcare including:

  • UPS Temperature True, a door-to-door, temperature-sensitive air freight service
  • UPS Proactive Response, which provides 24/7 monitoring of healthcare shipments from global "Control Towers," allowing specially trained staff to intervene, taking action to remediate, to your predetermined specification, a package that unexpectedly becomes at risk of temperature excursion in transit. Interventions can include providing refrigeration or dry ice replenishment as well as provisions to expedite delivery in the case of package delay.
  • The PharmaPort 360 air freight container-exclusive to UPS–provides shipment monitoring and temperature-controlled product protection for high-value, temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals, vaccines and biologics.

UPS provides its customers with top-tier regulatory expertise. Our team of dedicated healthcare quality assurance regulatory specialists manages more than 800 licenses in the U.S. alone, and will help to ensure compliance with complex and constantly-evolving regulatory requirements in both the origin and destination countries, as well as those in any countries your shipment passes through.

Our healthcare-compliant, validated visibility systems facilitate global information management, allowing customers to effectively manage inventory within the global network and leverage actionable supply chain data that can help determine optimal production rates, thereby preventing costly downtime or over-production. UPS continues to invest to meet the visibility needs of tomorrow’s healthcare logistics professionals, developing new technologies and capabilities that give even more insight into shipments for optimal control.

At UPS we live the motto: "It’s a patient, not a package." Our aim is to ensure that your product reaches the right patient, at the right time and in the right condition for the best possible patient outcome.

To learn more about how UPS Healthcare expertise can help you unlock value in your supply chain and take advantage of booming new markets.