PCI Pharma Services, pharmaceutical outsourcing services provider, has completed its purpose-built cold chain storage and distribution facility at its North American Clinical Services Center of Excellence, located in Rockford, Illinois.
Rockford
The new facility features packaging and labelling services, logistical services for global storage and distribution in addition to onsite analytical laboratory services. Furthermore, it provides end-to-end support for cold chain requirements with temps including 15–25°C, 2–8°C, -20°C, -40°C, -80°C as well as cryogenic storage at -196°C.
Design of the site was initiated with very specific requirements based on the unique infrastructure needs set forth by the client. Now completed, the site spans more than 10,000 square feet and features a 300-pallet controlled storage capacity designed to provide planned redundancies for the critical storage needs of the life-saving drug product.
“We have decades of experience with controlled temperature infrastructure, both controlled temperature packaging and controlled temperature storage, across a broad range of environmental conditions. It is noteworthy that each temperature parameter provides for unique considerations in managing the conditions and mitigating risks,” said PCI’s director of Facilities Engineering, Russ Stevens. “We engineered a multitude of installed mechanisms to assure continuity of supply, with redundancies in freezers and control units, as well as incorporating protections for infrastructure, fire, power, and many other factors, to the extent that we even took very specialised approaches to the engineering of the concrete foundation. It is truly cutting edge, to the degree that we are utilising predictive technologies to help mitigate potential failure modes. It has been an amazing collaboration.”
“The new -40°C facility not only demonstrates the Cold Chain expertise of the team here at PCI, but also demonstrates our dedication to our clients and the lengths we go to accommodate the needs of their specialized medicines — no matter the challenge,” commented PCI vice president and general manager Global Clinical Operations & Supply, Brian Keesee. “This particular application had some distinctly unique requirements. Being trusted to help support such an important therapy for patients in need around the world, the team really embraced the opportunity and delivered a fantastic solution. The positive client feedback has been very gratifying, and validated our goal to provide the industry leading customer experience. It is also very inspiring to know we are helping in the battle to treat and hopefully eradicate this disease around the world.”