Trusted Cold Chain Medication Distribution with Medvantx

As a non-commercial dispensing pharmacy, Medvantx overcomes many hurdles to get medications to the patients who need them. One challenge is delivering prescriptions that require constant refrigeration between two to eight degrees Celsius, also known as cold chain.

Understanding Cold Chain

There are a variety of medications that require refrigeration, including drugs like insulin that patients inject directly, or infusion products that must be administered in a doctor’s office. A wide range of conditions from diabetes to certain cancers, to multiple sclerosis or other diseases, may all require prescription cold chain drugs.

To deliver cold chain medications, packers and distributors must independently verify that their shipping methods can maintain specific temperatures for a given period, usually around 48 hours. Boxes are kept cold with special packing materials including frozen ice bricks and gels. “There can be a drug stored in a single vial within a three-inch-by-three-inch box, and it will need to be shipped in a box that’s two-feet-by-two-feet due to the refrigerated packing materials contained within,” explains Micah Benford, PharmD and chief medical affairs officer for Medvantx.

Cold Chain Challenges

Medications that need consistent cold temperatures pose unique challenges for dispensing pharmacies. According to Benford, “as a mail order pharmacy, our primary concern is keeping a cold chain medication at the proper temperature throughout the duration of shipment to delivery to the patient.”

Packing and shipping cold chain drugs require large storage facilities with coolers for medications and separate freezers for shipping materials. Once cold chain medications are packed, they need to be shipped quickly to ensure they get to patients on time. Not timing the delivery correctly could impact a patient administering medications as prescribed.

Medvantx for Your Cold Chain Needs

Medvantx utilizes two main distribution facilities in Sioux Falls, SD and Louisville, KY. Using these facilities, Medvantx is capable of dispensing cold chain prescriptions to all 50 states, including Hawaii and Alaska.

Each Medvantx pharmacy has ample cold chain storage, with multiple temperature-controlled coolers. These warehouses are equipped with backup generators as well so that any power outage will not result in medication spoilage. Medvantx also has industry-leading safety measures in place to maintain medication temperatures, including making sure that no drugs are out of a refrigerated environment for more than 45 minutes during the fulfillment process.

Today, Medvantx fulfills roughly 25,000 cold chain prescriptions monthly and close to 40 percent of our dispensed medications are cold chain. With a track record of 99.99% accuracy in prescription fulfillment, Medvantx is a trusted expert in cold chain medication packing and distribution. In addition, Medvantx and Cold Chain Technologies, partner on some manufacturer programs.