Panalpina earns GDP cert at Singapore facility

Swiss forwarder Panalpina has gained the Good Distribution Practice (GDP) certification for the proper handling of pharmaceutical products at its facility in Singapore.

With the GDP certification, which was issued by the Singapore Health Science Authority (HSA), Panalpina can “store, handle and distribute medicines in the local market” and “ship them abroad on behalf of pharmaceutical companies.”

“The pharmaceutical sector in Singapore has developed enormously since 2000 and the companies are increasingly outsourcing the logistics for their highly sensitive products,” said Gino Marzola, Panalpina’s managing director for Singapore and Malaysia. “Healthcare supply chains have a zero-fault tolerance, and the GDP certification for our brand-new facility demonstrates that we can meet that requirement.”

The forwarder cited data from the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), which said that, in 2016, the pharma sector produced more than US$11.6 billion worth of products, and that “eight of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies have a presence in the city-state, manufacturing four of the top 10 drugs by global revenue.”

This is the 32nd location in which the company has gained its GDP cert, following its most recent addition of its Bogotá location in August. GDP has been compared to the newer, airfreight-specific CEIV-Pharma program from IATA.