Pfizer Global Research & Development contracted Polar Thermal as the lead in cold chain package development and manufacturing. The trial was expanded to cover UK, Netherlands and the US over a 65 week period – Polar had responsibility for cold chain packaging solutions supporting clinical supply and day to day distribution activities from drug product stage through delivery to clinical site or to a subject’s residence.
Through our efforts it was possible to supply clinical sites and dispense to 84,500 subjects at over 122 locations throughout Netherlands. A small part of Capita (2,000 subjects) was the Subset study that dispensed vaccines to subjects at their residence.
Ray Goff Jr., Director Vaccines R&D at Pfizer, said: “as a key member of the Capita Partner and Logistics Team, the Polar team implemented remarkable solutions in cold chain packaging and clinical supply carriers in the face of major risks. Your collaboration with the Capita teams to identify potential risks, encountered numerous significant obstacles and you overcame these obstacles through creative problem-solving and risk mitigation.”
One example of a major risk encountered and solved was in the beginning of Capita enrolment when the Partner team determined that the ferry system from UK to France was safer than the channel tunnel during the 9/11 timeframe. While Capita vaccine supplies travelled in a van on a ferry crossing from UK to Calais an explosion occurred in the freight tunnel of the channel tunnel complex.
Normally the freight tunnel is the preferred route to cross the channel. The damage, expected to be cleared in 2-3 weeks, became a 6 month closure. The Partner’s team had already implemented the alternate plans to address this high risk area savings hundreds of thousands of Euros and avoided precious delays to the study. This is one of many actions of risk management performed by Capita Partner Team which delivered outstanding results.
At a time when clinical trials are very much in the news it is good to know that Polar Thermal have both the tools and the management to see critical projects through.
