Consultants Day at Vetter Development Services

June 27, 2016

Sentry BioPharma Services was pleased to be invited to speak at Vetter Development Services, Consultant Day which took place in Chicago, IL on June 22, 2016.

The theme for the conference was “Your Molecule’s Journey”. The objective of the conference was to inform pharmaceutical consultants of the unified service offerings of Sentry and Vetter (see diagram below). The combined services take a molecule after discovery from formulation to end patient. Alongside Vetter’s and Sentry’s presentations were talks by CMC Biologics on drug discovery and development and by FedEx Custom Critical on issues surrounding drug distribution and delivery worldwide.

Vetter Development Services, Inc., located in Skokie, Illinois, is a premier contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO). Vetter is a global leader in the fill & finish contract manufacturing of aseptically prefilled syringe systems, cartridges, and vials. It is a family-owned, independent company with facilities both in Germany and the US, as well as offices in Singapore and Japan. Vetter’s focus is on providing state-of-the-art biopharmaceutical manufacturing, from early clinical development and scale-up to commercial filling and packaging of parenteral drugs. They provide support every step of the way, guiding your drug product through development, regulatory approval, launch, and life cycle management. Vetter offers biotech and pharmaceutical companies a foundation of experience spanning more than 35 years including dozens of product approvals for novel pharmaceutical and biotech compounds.

Mr. Tim J. Mitchell, President of Sentry BioPharma Services, presented a talk entitled: “Protecting Product Integrity Throughout the Supply Chain”. Mr. Mitchell had this to say about the meeting, “Through our many years of experience at Sentry we have encountered numerous issues arising from the supply chain of drug products. I shared several stories and this example highlights the key points of my talk.”

A few years ago a large multinational pharmaceutical company (“LMP”), which is a Sentry client today, contacted Sentry concerning the +2°C to +8°C GMP storage and distribution of a sizable quantity of a new commercial vaccine which was to be imported from Europe. We were told that LMP would handle all pharmaceutical cold chain logistics activities and we should be ready to receive the product on a certain date. The receipt date came and went with no vaccine delivery.

The vaccine was held up in customs at O’Hare International Airport, the port of entry. Ten days go by and finally the product arrives at Sentry. There was concern about the vaccine strength, identity, safety, purity and quality (SISPQ) because the LMP knew that the temperature data loggers would have stopped working days earlier. However, this issue became moot.

The pharmaceutical company ultimately had hired “Bob’s Trucking” to pick up the vaccine at O’Hare and delivery it to Sentry. The shipping manifest called for a refrigerated truck with a temperature set point of +5°C. Unfortunately, Bob was unclear on the differences between Centigrade and Fahrenheit so he placed the shipment in a reefer truck with a temperature set point of +5°F.

“It is a dismal situation for a company to devote the significant resources to develop and manufacture an expensive medication which can save lives and have it all ruined by avoidable mistakes during the last miles of the pharmaceutical supply chain to patients,” Mr. Mitchell pointed out.

“The scenario above is too common today regardless of present day technical advancements. Sentry’s foreign trade zone (FTZ) could have provided a different and much better outcome for the vaccine distribution process. Instead of clearing customs at the airport, the vaccine could have been sent directly to Sentry and placed in its validated +2°C to +8°C GMP storage environment. While at Sentry, the product could have cleared customs and obtained FDA approval. Once this was accomplished the vaccine would have entered U.S. commerce and could have been distributed to hospitals, clinics and ultimately to patients.”

Sentry BioPharma Services is a contract service organization (CSO) which supports the life science industry by offering GMP temperature-controlled storage, global drug distribution, FDA-compliant labeling and packaging services and importation support utilizing Sentry’s Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ). Drug development and commercialization require continuous temperature monitoring and control. Sentry’s diverse offerings protect product integrity throughout the pharmaceutical supply chain. Sentry’s validated software, GMP storage and drug distribution facility, industry expertise and stringent quality standards support this objective throughout manufacturing, packaging, storage and distribution.

To learn more about how Sentry BioPharma Services can protect your products’ integrity throughout the pharmaceutical supply chain, please, contact Sentry via email or by phone at 1-866-757-7400.