The first panel on the second day of the Airfreight Pharma 2023 conference saw discussions about the “growing” MedTech industry and its logistical requirements.
Here, Matt Way, director of supply chains at Porton Biopharma Ltd, shared his views on how to improve the industry:
“What we need to look at working in the pharmaceutical [area of air cargo] is cross-company communications and relationships – it’s not just about the industry.
“The advancements in MedTech are usually made by some boffin in a lab somewhere who’s come up with a great idea but doesn’t necessarily understand how that translates into shipping their great products.
“… Someone sat in a lab doesn’t necessarily think and understand when they’re coming up with new MedTech that it creates a challenge into the business.
“So it’s good to talk internally, and when you look at a number of these ‘deep-tech start-ups’ that get spun up from Oxford University that are looking at this sort of MedTech out of diagnostics and stuff like that with patients.
“And it’s interesting when you have a look at the companies, how few supply chain and quality people have seats at the table, i.e. executive positions, obviously that’s the challenge when we talk about internally because you need those people to apply a little bit of realism to how this is going to play out.
“… We have to be able to say ‘that’s a great idea, but you have to involve us.”
