Teams of scientists around the world are working hard to advance and finalize the research they have been developing for decades. With the world’s attention on biopharmaceutical sciences, more funding has been applied to accelerating drug approvals than ever before.
With Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, and Sputnik V all are reinventing the present-day vaccines with mRNA solutions, there is a hope that the world is close to ending the pandemic.
But this radical transformation would not have been possible without the advancement of the ultra cold-storage facilities available today.
Before understanding how it’s used in the pandemic let’s first understand what is an ultra-cold storage facility and how it works.
What classifies a temperature as ‘ultracold’?
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According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the term ‘ultracold’ means ‘having a very low temperature; extremely or extraordinarily cold’. This generally references storage temperatures below -20 degrees Celcius.
Why has ultracold storage become so important?
The basics go like this that the colder the environment, the slower molecules, and biological proteins move, react or change – this is why foods are frozen to avoid spoilage.
Thus controlling the speed at which these activities happen by controlling the ambient temperature means that we are ensuring that the drug production process effectiveness remains at maximum level.
Where are these Ultracold storage Required?
mRNA, CAR-T therapies, cell and gene therapies, CRISPR, regenerative medicine, monoclonal antibodies, and precision medicine are just a few areas of applications where we can use the ultra-cold storage facility.
While many of these also fall into the cryogenics category of -135°C or colder. Stability testing to confirm the effectiveness and lessen stability conditions takes years to complete and patients waiting for these cures do not have years to wait.
The ultracold chain is becoming a key enabler of next-generation medicine
Whether in the developmental, translational, manufacturing, or patient administration phases of the drug development process, most next-gen treatments will have some degree of temperature sensitivity, requiring reliable thermal protection to maintain long-term efficacy.
Therefore, building a foundation for the ultracold chain becomes an essential enabler for critical biopharma developments in the foreseeable future.
Source
1 Saey T. (2021, 30 January). Here’s why COVID-19 vaccines like Pfizer’s need to be kept so cold. Retrieved 8 March 2021, from www.sciencenews.org/article/coronavirus-covid-19-why-vaccines-cold-freeze-pfizer-modern.
2 Precision Vaccinations. (2021, 8 March). Ervebo Ebola vaccine. Retrieved 11 March 2021, from www.precisionvaccinations.com/vaccines/ervebo-ebola-vaccine.