The current global pandemic is impacting virtually every aspect of the pharma and biopharma industry, from drug development, clinical trials, supplies, manufacturing, and supply chain logistics.

The CMO/CDMO service sector is inherently accustomed to change, flexibility and responding to changing pharma and biopharma needs. As such, it is uniquely positioned to help address some of the challenges drug developers are facing amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Contract Pharma gets Thermo Fisher Scientific’s perspective on the COVID-19 pandemic and how the company is working to help minimize disruptions. –KB
 
To meet the global demand for readily available novel coronavirus (COVID-19) detection and prevention technologies, Thermo Fisher Scientific has mobilized its scientific and commercial teams to support virus identification, rapid vaccine development and the deployment of personal protective equipment. During the duration of this crisis, we are focused on meeting the needs of our employees and customers, including those who are working to contain and reduce the impact of the virus.   

The spread of COVID-19 continues to impact the world around us. Thermo Fisher Pharma Services is closely monitoring this evolving situation and any potential impact on our business to ensure we can continue to manufacture and deliver the high-quality medicines our customers and their patients rely on. We’re committed to continuing to support our customers’ work. Pharma Services has taken steps internally to ensure critical services can be maintained and maintain our sites open and operating. This includes cross-training essential personnel and reinforcing preventative measures such as hygiene and cleaning protocol.

As background, once the Coronavirus was identified in China, we put our protocol in place for our sites near the epicenter of the outbreak in Beijing, Singapore and Suzhou. Thanks to our already established relationships with government and health authorities, coupled with our knowledge of country regulations and experience with specialty couriers, we were given priority to open our facilities and continue packaging and distribution. We are proud to say there were no disruptions in our services to patients receiving clinical trial medicines.

This experience and protocol can and will be replicated as needed across our sites globally as we closely monitor the evolving situation. This is especially true in areas where quarantines are in place or can be anticipated. For example, in Italy we’ve been able to successfully navigate quarantined zones to continue deliveries thanks to our Total Transportation Management (TTM). This model has enabled us to work with cargo freight providers in other parts of the world as well as commercial airlines to move medical shipments with priority, and we are actively in discussion with partners to identify all options.

See also Transportation Management Global Supply Chain Oversight