Seven out of 10 leading pharmaceutical products require temperature-controlled transportation. It’s estimated that pharmaceutical companies lose an average of $150,000 per small package shipment due to temperature slips. For oversized freight shipment, damages will certainly be high.

To prevent or at least minimize these losses, shipping companies, and shippers have come up with cold shipping solutions of maintaining regular load temperature in transit.
Refrigerated trailers are the most common cold chain delivery solution but for pharmaceutical products that need to be on a constant temperature, more options like insulated packaging, thermal blankets and dry ice are being used.

Here are some of the cold shipping solutions widely used in the pharmaceutical industry.

1. Cold Shipping Packs
This cooler and shipping pack is a nontoxic, latex-free water-based shipping refrigerant gel pack specially designed for cold chain storage and transportation of pharmaceuticals, food and beverage and chemicals.

Cold shipping packs are often used as an alternative to dry ice and are ideal for freezable lunch boxes and coolers. There are two types of cold gel packs. A non-woven cold shipping gel packs, which greatly reduce condensation, and a foil metalized cold shipping gel pack that deflects heat.

2. Insulated Shipping Box
An EPS insulated foam box features thick walls and interlocking lid set into the center designed for maximum filling. Ideal for safe cold storage and transportation of temperature-sensitive products. You can get boxes with or without corrugated boxes depending on its application, and they also come in a variety of thickness and sizes to choose from.

3. Insulated Foil Bubble Box Liners
Insulated box liners are made with reflective material that protects against any form of heat transfer. Most of the radiant heat is reflected by foil while convection and conduction heat transfer is controlled by the bubbles and poly.

Unlike traditional foam insulation, insulated foil box liners are relatively inexpensive and don’t eat up much space. It also features adhesive strips that ensure the content inside are tightly sealed. Additionally, box inserts are conveniently packed for easy storage.

4. Foil Bubble Mailers
Like insulated foil bubble box liners, foil bubble mailers are inexpensive and takes up less space. They feature both laminated metalized bubbles and foil for protective cushioning and heat insulation respectively. Also, mailers have self-adhesive strips for airtight closure and are excellent for overnight boxes. They come in a variety of sizes for your specific needs.

5. Insulated Metalized Envelopes
These multi-layered insulated metalized envelopes are ideal for pharmaceutical storage as well as faciliate cold shipping solutions. A metalized envelope features thick padded mailers and a metalized film layer that reflects 97% of radiant heat and insulate your cargo for up to 36 hours. Also, it has a leakproof zipper and a flap down sealing tape for maximum temperature control

6. Foil Bubble Rolls
Foil bubble rolls reflect 97% of the radiant heat while heat transfer from conduction and convection is controlled by the bubble cushion. In addition to heat control, the laminated metalized bubble cushion offers extra protection on your payload. Foil roll can be cut down for different applications such as lining boxes in temperature control packaging.

As an addition to the cold shipping solutions, many companies also use sensor-based systems to track and record a product’s temperature in transit. It alerts the shipper if the temperature drops or increase substantially. Other sensor-based products are designed to monitor other environmental factors such as light and vibration. These new technologies are able to tell if your cargo was subjected to high vibrations or light.