PCS Engineers Innovative Cold Chain Platform for Transport of COVID-19 Vaccines Across Multiple Modes of Transport from Drones to Planes to Trucks

As COVID-19 vaccines prepare to launch, drug makers are wrestling with the unprecedented scale and complexity of setting up supply chain and distribution of vaccines from the manufacturing plant to the clinic, for the entire world. Central to this logistics challenge is the necessity to maintain the vaccines within specific temperature ranges for protecting vaccine efficacy, with some vaccines requiring temperatures as low as -75⁰C.

Today, Phase Change Solutions (PCS) has an answer.

To accommodate the wide range of temperature requirements of various vaccine manufacturers and logistics companies, PCS has developed a versatile platform of BioPCM® phase change material solutions that support a range of temperatures from -75°C to 25°C for pharmaceutical and coldchain applications. Designed to maximize safe shipment time periods, Apollo™ optimizes energy usage in supply chain infrastructure from the manufacturer to the consumer. Apollo™ uses smart nesting of BioPCM® solutions in combination with other components, such as insulated shippers, to enable modular and robust solutions. For vaccines packaged by the manufacturers according to strict FDA and other regulations, the Apollo™ platform ensures risk mitigation from the manufacturer to the vaccine recipient and provides standardization of temperature control across the entire supply chain.

“Millions of packages have been safely shipped using BioPCM®, the family of phase change materials that was invented at PCS,” said Dr. Reyad Sawafta, Chief Scientific Officer of PCS.  “Previously, we had developed BioPCM® materials that could support temperatures as low as -50°C. Recently, we engineered a novel class of BioPCM® materials that could operate at lower temperatures, down to -75°C or beyond, to address the urgent requirements of some potential vaccines being considered for COVID-19.”

In addition to a wide temperature range, the Apollo™ platform accommodates a range of payload sizes and shapes, and varying shipment durations, for any cold chain situation. Another key feature of the Apollo™ platform is that it can be scaled for insulated shipping across multiple modes of transport from drones to planes, thus ensuring that vaccine efficacy is maintained globally with competitive operating costs for platform integrators, logistics providers and pharmaceutical companies. Additionally, Apollo™ offers the possibility of reducing or completely eliminating the need for dry ice in cold chain packages, which can significantly increase the number of packages that can be safely shipped by air, while reducing environmental impact.

“We knew our pharmaceutical partners would depend on us to come through quickly with a solution to provide standardization of temperature control across their supply chain. As a leader in enabling cold chain transportation and storage, we are proud to enable our partners to deliver COVID-19 vaccines intact, to any place in the world where the vaccine will be administered,” said Govi Rao, CEO of Phase Change Solutions (PCS).

Information about the Apollo™ solution and BioPCM® phase change materials can be found on the company’s website: www.phasechange.com