Cryoport enhances cold chain tracking with SmartPack II

Saying that his company is preparing for future business in cellular therapy and related live-cell treatments, even ahead of a commercial market, Jerrell Shelton, president of Cryoport, is promoting the company’s newly introduced SmartPack II condition-monitoring system. The electronic monitoring and communications device is meant to accompany the company’s Express Shippers, which are engineered metal containers, with cooling provided by liquid nitrogen (-196°C). SmartPack is designed to communicate with the company’s Cryoportal, a cloud-based communications system that enables clients to monitor shipments en route while confirming environmental conditions and transfers or deliveries (geolocation). Cellular, Wi-Fi and satellite-based communications are all enabled.

While there are numerous other condition-monitoring devices on the market, Shelton says that the proprietary combination of SmartPack features, together with Cryoportal, offer clients a tailored, effective solution for shipping valuable samples, clinical trial materials and commercial products. (In its latest annual statement, the company says that it has won its first commercial-product contract with a biotech product that has a $4-billion market; the client was not revealed.) The Cryoport containers are currently available in three sizes (the equivalent of 75, 500 or 1,500 2-mL vials), and with temperature control and related features that cover deep frozen, frozen and special-purpose temperature ranges.