Cold Chain Distribution for Pharmaceuticals in 2025: Best Practices and Future Trends
Securing Cold Chain Distribution for Pharmaceuticals: 2025 Insights Introduction: The pharmaceutical cold chain is no longer a niche function; it is a missioncritical system that keeps vaccines, biologics and personalised therapies safe from factory to patient. Industry reports estimate that the global cold chain market for pharmaceuticals was about US $6.4 billion in 2024 and will grow to US $6.6 billion in 2025. With approximately 85 % of biologic drugs requiring refrigeration or freezing, contract manufacturing organisations must maintain precise temperature control during every step. This article, updated in November 2025, explains what makes pharmaceutical cold chain distribution unique, examines major pain points, reviews monitoring technologies, outlines regulatory requirements and highlights trends shaping the next decade. What defines pharmaceutical cold chain distribution? Understand how the growing demand for biologics, vaccines and personalised therapies drives specialised infrastructure and realtime monitoring. What challenges do CDMOs and logistics providers face? Explore process development, validation, supplier coordination and risk management issues when handling temperaturesensitive drugs. Which monitoring technologies protect product integrity? Compare data loggers, IoT sensors, RFID...