Biotech Values

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Derek Lowe on ramifications of cold storage requirements on distribution...

https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2020/11/09/vaccine-efficacy-data

But the other thing to keep in mind is that this candidate has (so it appears) by far the most challenging distribution of all of them. The Pfizer/BioNTech candidate, last we heard, needs -80C storage, and that is not available down at your local pharmacy. Pfizer has been rounding up as many ultracold freezers (and as much dry ice production) as they can, but there seems little doubt that this is going to be a tough one. I know that the press release talks about getting 1.3 billion doses of this vaccine during 2021, but actually getting 1.3 billion doses out there is going to take an extraordinary effort, because you’re getting into some regions where such relatively high-tech storage and handling becomes far more difficult. Population density is as big a factor as electricity and transport infrastructure. With demanding storage requirements, the more people that are within a short distance of a Big Really Cold Freezer, the better. And the more trucks (etc.) that you have to send down isolated roads to find the spread-out patients, the worse. That’s always the case, but if you’re rushing against dry-ice-pack deadlines the situation is more fraught.