Good Medicines Come In Quality Packages

In the third of a series of six articles, Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) launches the Know Your Pill initiative, to educate patients on the untold story of the medicine and throw light on the technological intervention in supply chain management that will ensure good medicines are delivered through superior and technologically -driven supply chain management

Imagine a village in the desert of Rajasthan. In the scorching heat of 480celsius, a baby is waiting for a vaccine. Of all the medicinal products to be sold and administered all over the world, the most difficult to manufacture, transport and store are the injectables. Whether they are vaccines and antisera of various kinds, high-end antibiotics, the growing range of biotech medicines and biosimilars, they have to be maintained within a narrow range of temperature and humidity.

Maintenance of the ‘cold chain’ for vaccines as they travel from the manufacturing site to the far-flung areas across miles of deserts is often the reason for success or failure of many immunisation campaigns. Vaccines and biologicals have to be stored under very strict conditions of temperature and humidity, or else they may lose their efficacy. As the number of biotechnology based medicines increase all over the world, these challenges are beginning to multiply.