Lost for 61 hours inside a freezer and the product was not affected

Tower received an urgent call from a client concerned that their controlled-room temperature (CRT) investigational drug product being shipped at 15-25°C in a KT400T Tower Flexi Fit container had mistakenly been placed in an airport freezer at -20°C.

At the time the container was declared ‘lost’, the pharmaceutical client was notified and a corrective and preventative action plan (CAPA) process was triggered.

After 61 hours, airport staff at last located the container and delivered it to the customer.

The KT400 has a built-in data-logger that records both internal and external temperatures.

Information from this logger was used to confirm the frozen ambient in which the container had wrongly been placed. A review of the internal temperature data from the KT400 datalogger, together with the data from an independent temperature monitor, located inside the KT400 container confirmed it had maintained temperature throughout its 61-hour frozen experience.

The product was unaffected by the events and was able to be released for use, having survived not only extreme temperatures but also being delivered three days late.

Tower’s client, the pharmaceutical client and the consignee were all delighted with no loss of product to report.