Arvato Supply Chain Solutions, a leading supply chain service provider and among others market leader in Europe for integrated order-to-cash solutions for the Healthcare industry, in collaboration with Brooks Life Sciences, global supplier of complete automation solutions for the life sciences industry, is expanding and automating warehousing for Advanced Therapies such as cell and gene therapies, that require ultra-low or cryogenic temperature environments.
Advanced therapies are therapeutic procedures to treat serious and often rare diseases more effectively. The aim is to replace malfunctioning or defective cells or to initiate processes for regeneration. These novel therapies, however, implicate unique requirements regarding storage and logistics that are difficult for healthcare manufacturers to manage. “Arvato has therefore decided to expand its European storage and warehousing capacities in cooperation with Brooks Life Sciences in Germany to offer customers best-in-class automated ultracold storage services including LN2 cryogenic storage,” explains Dr. Thorsten Winkelmann, President Healthcare.
For Arvato’s customers, this means that in addition to established international service offerings for commercial distribution they now also benefit from Brooks Life Sciences deep application experience and proven technologies to protect sample integrity while adding precise inventory accuracy and documentation. Sample quality and simultaneous compliance with regulatory requirements is assured by Brooks’ team of ultra-low storage experts. Dr. Markus Albertini, Director of Brooks Life Sciences European Services: “Arvato customers have access to our complete sample management and biorepository services, including the Brooks Life Sciences BioStore™ III automated storage system, to provide secure and accurate inventory control, optimized customer workflows, and improved sample throughput. The system provides a flexible, modular, and automated solution for a wide range of labware and can be used for materials requiring storage at temperatures between -20°C and -196°C.”
The comprehensive network of Arvato Supply Chain Solutions’ Healthcare business unit currently comprises 17 international sites with a total storage area of 200,000 square meters. Temperature controlled areas allow storage of sensitive products from an ultra-low or cryogenic environment (-196°C) up to ambient (+15°C to +25°C).
The individual logistics centers are equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure, certified according to GMP, GDP, IATA and ISO and meet the requirements of modern temperature-controlled supply chain management in all temperature classes. This network is currently to be enriched to meet the special requests of cell and gene therapies.
Arvato´s mission is to deliver high value to the healthcare industry by managing the complexity of advanced therapies through digital technology and operational services. Dr. Thorsten Winkelmann: “By creating an opportunity for cell and gene therapy manufacturers to store their sophisticated products professionally, they can also benefit from Arvato’s complete range of order-to-cash logistics services out of one hand. In addition to storage and distribution, we also provide customer and financial services. Thus our customers benefit from an integrated end-to-end solution.”
