Temperature controlled and monitored distribution for vaccines and medicines

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Working with a major pharmaceutical distribution company and with community nurses, we have identified a significant need for improving temperature-controlled and monitored distribution for medicines, test samples, blood transfusions and vaccines.Most urgently, we have identified four COVID-19 specific issues that will impact the UK that must be addressed right now:1. When vaccines become available, they will require temperature-controlled environments. The UK's infrastructure to distribute these vaccines in these volumes is stretched.2. There is insufficient refrigeration capability at surgeries, pharmacies and hospitals to handle the anticipated volumes. Nor is there a central monitoring system for monitoring vaccines and medicines held in these refrigerators.3. District and community nurses currently have no temperature-controlled facilities for delivering vaccines. Unused vaccines are therefore destroyed at the end of each day. This already costs the NHS an estimated £4M annually and significantly reduces the overall number of vaccines available.4. To rapidly implement mass immunisation, drive through vaccination sites are likely to be required across the country. These will require refrigeration facilities where there is no guarantee of a reliable power supply.eVc PowerTech are creating a low cost medical supply distribution system comprising of hand-held refrigerated tote boxes that incorporate real time temperature monitoring, and a docking system that will power the totes and act as a communications hub when the totes are in a distribution centre, in a vehicle or at a pharmacy, GP surgery or hospital.Our vision is to create a system that can be used throughout the healthcare industry for the safe transportation and handling of temperature-controlled medicines.With Extension for Impact funding, we will be able to further develop the tracking software in order to provide a full back-end database and dashboards, allowing supervisors and managers to track and monitor vaccines under their control or within their distribution system.