The Drug Boom That Needs a Fridge
Most injectable GLP-1 drugs, such as Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Wegovy and Eli Lilly's Mounjaro and Zepbound, require cold-chain conditions during transport. The FDA has cautioned that incorrect handling during transit can compromise drug quality and advises patients not to use GLP-1 drugs that arrive warm or without adequate refrigeration.
Demand for these drugs has surged.
According to Growth Market Reports, the cold-chain biologics market is projected to reach about $39.1 billion by 2033, growing at a compound annual rate of 8.3%.
Because these medications must stay chilled from factory to patient, logistics providers are scrambling to build the necessary infrastructure. The surge in GLP-1 prescriptions has strained existing refrigerated capacity, creating both challenges and opportunities for shipping companies that can guarantee temperature integrity.
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The limited availability of refrigerated transport and storage capacity has led to rising competition among shipping companies to secure these resources. This environment has accelerated investments in new facilities and advanced tracking systems to ensure temperature integrity from factory to patient.
How the Shipping Giants Are Responding
During an April earnings call, CEO Carol Tomé noted that the company's healthcare portfolio has increased its market share annually since 2021, achieving its first $3 billion quarterly healthcare revenue in Q1 of this year.
John Bolla, UPS President of Healthcare, told CNBC that a growing number of healthcare companies are turning to logistics partners to handle higher volumes. "One of the biggest opportunities we see is supporting the shift toward more specialized therapies and more care delivered outside of traditional healthcare settings," Bolla said. He added, "As treatments become more specialized, healthcare companies need partners that can provide end-to-end visibility, control and reliability across the entire network."
FedEx is likewise capitalizing on the trend, establishing a life sciences division earlier this month to handle pharmaceutical and healthcare logistics.
Nick Gennari, FedEx's president of healthcare, said, "We're building end-to-end solutions focused on global pharma customers, and what's so important with global pharma is that you have to recognize that there's a patient at the end of every delivery or someone that's waiting to be treated. So we take this very, very seriously."
Gennari added that FedEx possesses advanced technology, such as a machine learning tool that gives clients predictive visibility into product movements, and he expressed confidence in the company's existing infrastructure and expansion strategies, which encompass cold-chain logistics.
C.H. Robinson told CNBC that its healthcare logistics revenue exceeded $1 billion over the past twelve months, largely driven by GLP-1 growth, and the company has directed capital toward temperature-controlled facilities.
Ronnie Davis, who oversees surface transportation for C.H. Robinson in North America, commented, "You need to really have that end-to-end connectivity, so you've got to have a really nice network and infrastructure built out in order to properly service the healthcare customers." He noted that with the rise of GLP-1s, "it's really creating a competitive nature for the same refrigerated supply resources that are there and, quite candidly, that supply is not unlimited, it's constrained."
Hendrik Venter, who leads DHL Supply Chain, observed that healthcare logistics innovation is converging with advancements in artificial intelligence.
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