Pelican BioThermal, a global provider of temperature-controlled packaging, has acquired NanoCool, a manufacturer of temperature-controlled packaging solutions based in Albuquerque, NM, expanding Pelican’s product portfolio. The addition of NanoCool customers, market segments and product technologies will enable Pelican BioThermal to expand its access to patients, laboratories and other last-mile players in the distribution of life sciences materials and collection of patient laboratory samples.

NanoCool brings its evaporative cooling systems for cold chain shipping containers that do not require refrigeration or pre-condition. NanoCool packaging can be stored at normal temperatures. A push of a button engages the cooling technology and quickly conditions a payload space for shipping biologic patient samples and other life science materials. These unique characteristics, and highly efficient volumetrics, make NanoCool ideal for markets including specialty couriers, diagnostic labs, clinical supply providers and cell and gene and therapy organizations. The company also has a dry-ice friendly parcel shipper and a version of its cooling engine that patients can send in a shipping envelope from their homes.

“The core competency of Pelican BioThermal and NanoCool — innovative temperature-controlled packaging — is very much aligned, but there is little overlap between our market segments and product technologies,” said David Williams, president of Pelican BioThermal. “Adding NanoCool’s capabilities to our diverse product line will help fuel our efforts to expand our offerings and bring further innovation to growing sectors of the life sciences industry spanning the globe. We will continue to lead innovation in temperature-controlled packaging with the addition of NanoCool’s customer-focused engineering approach — a methodology that both organizations fully embrace.”

“I’m thrilled to see NanoCool become part of the Pelican BioThermal family. The Pelican BioThermal brand is well known around the world for its temperature-controlled technology and we’re excited that our products will gain access to their resources and best-in-class industry expertise,” said Doug Smith, Founder of NanoCool. “Since we primarily serve customers in the U.S., we look forward to leveraging Pelican BioThermal’s extensive global network to bring our innovative technology to more areas of the world – especially to areas where temperature-control is crucial.”

Mr. Smith will serve as a consultant to Pelican, and the NanoCool facility in NM will continue to manufacture its products. Plans are underway to increase production at the facility to meet expected new sales following the acquisition. The approximately 60-person staff of NanoCool will be retained and new positions may be added to enhance operations.