New Cold Chain Warehouse and Conditioning Facility in Belfast as Part of QuickSTAT Global Expansion Plan
GDP facility to accommodate the pharma healthcare industry with seamless logistics for all stages of product life cycle
New York, New York (April 22, 2021) -- QuickSTAT has doubled the size and capacity of its warehouse and conditioning facility in Belfast, and will be opening additional strategic in-transit warehouses and conditioning facilities worldwide in 2021. This investment is part of a pharma healthcare strategy to provide Kuehne+Nagel and QuickSTAT customers seamless logistics for all stages of the pharmaceutical life cycle – from early stage product research and development and clinical trials through to commercialization.
The larger facility will also support the global growth of Almac, the contract development and manufacturing organization that provides a range of integrated services across the drug development lifecycle. QuickSTAT opened its original conditioning facility in Belfast in 2016, in partnership with Almac.
Conditioning facilities are used to provide temperature-controlled vacuum-insulated packaging (VIP), handling, storage, conditioning and just-in-time global shipping capabilities — with QuickSTAT providing the fastest turnaround times in the industry.
The VIP units provide robust temperature control, which is needed to safely transport biological samples, investigational drugs, cell and gene therapies and other life-saving medicines in clinical trials and commercial distribution. The use of this packaging means that 99.9% of these shipments will remain within temperature, ensuring integrity and patient safety. This is particularly relevant for large molecule shipments, which are generally temperature controlled. The packaging also helps small molecule sponsors with adherence to Good Distribution Practices.
QuickSTAT currently has a global network of 42 conditioning facilities. Plans include an addition of 11 conditioning facilities in 2021, with new ones planned in the APAC and EU regions. All facilities incorporate best practices in cold chain management, are GDP-compliant and utilize QuickSTAT’s proprietary VIP Inventory Management Software, an end-to-end system for managing the conditioning, transport, tracking, return, recycling and inventory.
“QuickSTAT is committed to providing innovative and customized solutions to meet the ever-challenging demands of the life science industry. By continuing to expand our global footprint to locations of strategic importance, we are able to support the growing temperature control needs of both Kuehne+Nagel Pharma Chain and QuickSTAT clients,” says Cyril Leger, Executive Vice President, QuickSTAT.
"We have been successfully partnering with QuickSTAT for more than 15 years. They have been providing logistics transportation services globally for Almac’s Investigational Medicinal Products ensuring product integrity and patient safety. Their expertise and dedicated account team are always on hand to provide customised shipment tracking and reporting, providing local, regional and global support as well as in-depth country by country expertise. I am delighted to send my congratulations on the opening of their new state-of-the-art facility in Belfast, which acts as a central hub to service Almac with temperature-controlled services with phase change shippers and our Almac POD," says Sharon Courtney, Logistics Services Manager, Almac.