One of the vaccines that is in the running for approval from the European Medicines Agency takes it very cold. In pharmaceutical logistics, people are prepared for this, including the Kwizda company founded in Korneuburg. However, such extreme storage temperatures are very rarely required, was emphasized in a local inspection by noe.ORF.at on Tuesday at the logistics location in Leopoldsdorf near Vienna (Bruck an der Leitha district).
“Temperature ranges of minus 70 or minus 20 degrees Celsius, as they are now being discussed, are unusual for pharmaceuticals, but nothing new to us,” said Albert Dlaska, Managing Director of Kwizda Pharmaceutical Distribution. “We have already gained medicinal products in these temperature ranges and have also gained experience over the past few years, which we can now use and scale very well.”
The cold chain is monitored automatically
The central point is the monitoring of the cold chain, emphasized Dlaska. “Here, monitoring systems are implemented everywhere that alert you when the temperature ranges are exceeded and emit appropriate signals so that countermeasures can then be taken.” However, this only affects delivery logistics anyway. Shortly before vaccination, a normal temperature for vaccines is sufficient. “For all of these vaccines it is foreseeable that they can be stored for several days at a temperature of plus two to plus eight degrees,” says the managing director of Kwizda Pharmadistribution.
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At Kwizda they are prepared for the storage of the CoV vaccine
How great the hopes are for the vaccine and its rapid distribution is probably also shown by the fact that only a few days ago Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP), the managing director of Pfizer Austria, Robin Rumler, and the president of the Association of Vaccine Manufacturers, Renee Gallo Daniel, visited the Kwizda logistics hub in Leopoldsdorf near Vienna.
“Situation of the century”: The industry wants to act together
The company’s pharmaceutical trade is located in the 20th district of Vienna. Its managing director, Thomas Brosch, is also a board member of the Association of Austrian Pharmaceutical Wholesalers PHAGO. He emphasized that the entire industry wanted to act together on this issue.
“This is a situation of the century. We haven’t had a pandemic like this in our lives and hopefully never again. All participants in this ‘game’ – be it the pharmaceutical industry, be it politics, all authorities and of course pharmaceutical wholesalers – try to appear together and offer the most stable and best possible distribution possible, ”says Brosch. “In our opinion, the best possible distribution is to use the entire network of pharmaceutical wholesale with all locations.”
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The industry expects a first delivery in mid-January
The logistics network is to be expanded
This network is currently being expanded significantly. “As an entire industry, we have storage capacities for minus 70, minus 80 degrees at ten locations,” said Brosch. “We will expand these locations to up to 24 locations by Christmas or by the end of the year in order to be able to store in this extreme temperature range of minus 70 degrees. We are already ready today to store over a million vaccine doses in this temperature range and by Christmas we will be ready to store up to three million vaccine doses in this area. ”
From these up to 24 locations, the vaccine could be delivered directly to the vaccination sites. In the industry, the first vaccine is expected in Austria in mid-January. After the US pharmaceutical company Moderna, the German company Biontech and the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer recently applied to the European Medicines Agency for approval of their vaccine for the EU.
