Memphis, TN, US: Accredo Health Group’s facility in Shelby County lost power briefly last weekend when powerful storms ripped through the region. Temperature is critical for the Memphis-based provider of specialty pharmaceuticals.
The majority of the drugs it handles are injectable or infusion therapies, making it imperative that they’re stored at between 1.7- and 8-degrees C. However the company managed to rewire and stablise the system in its temperature-controlled storage site within an hour and a half.
Steve Fitzpatrick, president of Accredo, a wholly owned subsidiary of New-Jersey based Medco Health Solutions, says it is a complex operation: “It’s not just monitoring the temperature in the facility, but also on its way to the patient. If there’s a disruption in the process, we’ve got to move that product back here or arrange for it to be stored in a temperature-controlled setting.”
Carol Turner, Accredo quality assurance engineer and manager, says the company’s operations did suffer some weather-related shipping delays this past week. “It does have an impact on our carriers because if there are any adverse road conditions, they’re going to impede UPS or FedEx from doing the air travel or road travel,” she says. “In the event that happens, we try to retrieve products back to our facility, or we’re looking at options to ensure storing our product at a certain temperature so we can get it to our patients.”
