Pharma.Aero, whose mission is to advance logistics in the life science and medtech industries, has initiated a project to develop a ‘precision therapy logistics gateway’ (PTLG) at Brussels Airport (BRU).
The Belgian airport’s air cargo community body, Air Cargo Belgium, its operating company, BAC, and the at.las ATMP (Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products) platform are also involved.
Frank Van Gelder, Pharma.Aero’s secretary general, said the project was a further step in advanced pharma and healthcare logistics and, in particular, the development of provision tailored to therapies linked to malignant diseases.
In the coming weeks, trial shipments will be transported from the University of Antwerp Science Park to BRU and from there to Dallas Fort Worth Airport (DFW) in Texas. Their final destination will be the Biolabs Pegasus Park in Dallas.
Mr Van Gelder said fighting diseases such as cancer was increasingly becoming dependent on personalised, specialised treatments, which posed considerable challenges from a logistics standpoint.
For example, temperature integrity must be assured so high demands are put on packaging . There is also the crucial time-critical factor, in many case of only a few days. Moreover, when it comes to Customs, shipments need to be classified as ‘unique’, offsetting the risk of them being held up in the clearance process.
The volumes for this category of air cargo are very small, so there is no requirement for freighters. What is needed are airlines which can offer an extremely reactive flight network of passenger aircraft.
Airports need to be able to provide specialised air cargo handling expertise and be operational 24/7, 365 days a year ,while on the logistics side, shipments have to be monitored permanently through a ‘control tower’.
The at.las ATMP platform, via its Logistics Excellence Centre, is focused on testing the reliability of the current logistics model with regard to temperature control, timeliness, traceability, and monitoring. The aim is to learn and to introduce new internationally recognised logistics standards for precision therapies.
“The ATMP Logistics Excellence Centre will assess a pilot lane, effectively shipping blood samples, vaccines, and cells in order to bring into view the real risks and to move towards a risk-free shipping lane,” the platform noted.
It is also tasked with securing air cargo capacity for the precision therapy shipments.
Air Cargo Belgium’s director, Freek De Witte, said that the first trial shipment is set to take place on 22 April. Three types of advanced therapy shipments – a total of 154 individual medical treatments – are scheduled to leave BRU for DFW over a period of several months running into next year.
“There may be a single flight one week carrying the shipments, none the next week, and two the week after that. It all depends when the shipments are made available,” explained Mr De Witte.
There are no direct flights on the route but provision is made to move the shipments via other airports in Europe and the US to reach DFW.
He said airlines and forwarders, such as Lufthansa and K+N , had pledged to provide services in kind. Air Cargo Belgium was working with BAC on studying protocols, standard procedures, and specific Customs codes for the advanced therapy shipments.
“We will also look into the feasibility of a dedicated handling facility, along the lines of the airport’s animal care and inspection centre, or whether these shipments can be accommodated by existing air cargo infrastructure,” Mr De Witte added.
Pharma.Aero’s ‘global community’ includes some 20 pharma/life science manufacturers, among them giants such as Pfizer, Novartis, MSD, GSK, Bayer, and Johnson & Johnson, as well as smaller enterprises and start-ups specialising in very specific cell and gene therapy.
The membership, which is now around 90-strong, also extends to major forwarders and cargo-carrying airlines, airports, cargo ground handlers, cold chain specialists, and professional bodies such as the Cool Chain Association, Humanitarian Logistics Association, IATA, and TIACA.
Two big names to join last year were Emirates SkyCargo and Kuehne + Nagel.
