- Personalised medicine reshapes pharma logistics as air cargo providers now handle individual treatments where timing, temperature, and precision directly affect patient outcomes.
- Technology enables operations but human judgment remains central, guiding when to intervene, escalate, or trust automated systems.
- Collaboration and infrastructure are key to consistency, bridging gaps between pharma and aviation while ensuring every shipment reaches the patient safely and on time.
As the pharmaceutical industry moves deeper into the era of personalised medicine, air cargo providers are being forced to rethink every assumption about scale, speed, and precision. It’s no longer about moving large quantities of a single product, it’s about moving single treatments that can define a patient’s outcome.
“Personalisation is no longer a concept, it’s the reality,” says Yulia Celetaria, Global Director Pharma at Healthc’Air. “Pharma logistics has moved from transporting standardised products to managing highly specific shipments for patients with unique treatment pathways.”
Those pathways can now involve advanced therapies such as cell and gene treatments, where even a minor deviation in timing or temperature can render a product useless. “These shipments often have a patient’s name attached,” she adds. “You’re not just moving cargo; you’re moving someone’s hope.”
The challenge of smart digitalisation
Celetaria believes technology has been both a revolution and a risk for pharma logistics. The influx of data from IoT devices, AI tools, and digital dashboards has created new visibility – but also new noise.
“Digitalisation is not about collecting as much data as possible. It’s about using the right data at the right moment,” she says. “Having too much information without knowing how to act on it creates confusion. The key is selectivity – using technology to enhance visibility and decision-making, not to replace human judgment.”
Artificial intelligence, she argues, is most valuable when applied with discipline. “Our teams know when to intervene, when to escalate, and when to trust the process. Technology supports people; it doesn’t replace them.”
Standards need consistency, not slogans
For pharmaceutical logistics, operational consistency remains one of the industry’s toughest goals – especially across global networks with varying infrastructure, climate conditions, and regulatory standards.
“You can’t talk about quality if each location interprets standards differently,” Celetaria notes. “The only way to build true consistency is to put everyone — airlines, forwarders, handlers, and shippers — at the same table. Collaboration is not just a nice idea; it’s the foundation of reliability.”
She stresses that compliance must be understood, not just enforced. “When people understand why a standard exists, they follow it naturally. It’s not about enforcement; it’s about shared purpose.”
Infrastructure gaps expose weak links
While major gateways have invested heavily in pharmaceutical handling infrastructure, many regional airports still face critical gaps. That imbalance, Celetaria says, is one of the most practical challenges in achieving global reliability.
“Not every airport has cool dollies, temperature-controlled warehouses, or staff trained in GDP compliance,” she explains.
“Sometimes we work with airports that have good intentions but limited means. That’s where logistics creativity comes in — using portable solutions, passive containers, or hybrid systems to bridge the gap.”
She adds that improving such infrastructure requires shared responsibility, not criticism. “Our role is not to point out what’s missing, but to help build the bridge — to support local stations so they can meet the same standards as global hubs.”
Bridging pharma and aviation
Healthc’Air operates at the intersection of two industries that often speak different languages: aviation and pharmaceuticals. According to Celetaria, miscommunication between the two remains a source of risk and inefficiency.
“There’s still a communication gap between airlines and the life sciences sector,” she says. “Pharma companies speak in clinical terms, while airlines focus on operational efficiency. We translate between the two.”
That translation, she adds, goes beyond terminology. “When you help an airline understand why temperature control is not optional, or when you help a shipper see why cargo cycles matter, that’s when you create real alignment.”
The human dimension
Even as automation and AI take over more operational tasks, Celetaria insists that people remain at the heart of the supply chain. “You can have the best systems in the world, but it’s still people who make the final call,” she says. “Empathy, responsibility, and precision — those are qualities no algorithm can replicate. Every shipment is a promise, and keeping that promise is what defines this industry.”
As therapies become more patient-specific and timelines more compressed, logistics professionals are finding themselves closer than ever to the point of care. “Our goal is simple,” Celetaria concludes. “To make sure that every patient, wherever they are, receives their treatment safely, on time, and in perfect condition.”
