Arvato Supply Chain Solutions offers storage capabilities for cell & gene therapies

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
the 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 for 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.