16 June 2009: “We believe that biotechnology will play an important role in the future of pharmaceutical research and development,” said Carlos Jankowski, global executive director of World Courier’s Clinical Trial Supply Chain Services (CTSCS) Division, “and have chosen once again to assert our position as the market leader in providing critical services to the pharmaceutical sector. As countries begin to regulate the handling of GMOs and GMO-derived products, we will be ready to offer up-to-the-minute validated facilities that comply specifically with national regulations governing the storage and distribution of these products.”
GMO storage capabilities are now available at company depots in Buenos Aires (Argentina), São Paulo (Brazil) and Santiago (Chile), with Bangalore (India), México City (México) and Bogotá (Colombia) expected to come online by year-end. GMO facilities in Beijing (China), Moscow (Russia) and Lima (Perú) will be developed as client demand requires.
World Courier’s new GMO storage units are equipped with qualified ultra freezers (-80°C), contact freezers (-20°C) and, in some countries, with controlled ambient temperature areas (15°C to 25°C). These dedicated storage areas have been established in accordance with local biosafety requirements and are used primarily to house Biosafety Level (BSL) 1 and 2 products, those most readily used in trials. Special SOPs and safety measures have been implemented for GMO storage units which have been carefully isolated from other product storage areas to eliminate all possibilities of cross-contamination.