Nippon Express Co., Ltd. (Mitsuru Saito, President) will be joining the KIX Pharma Community established by Kansai Airports (Yoshiyuki Yamaya, CEO) with an eye to acquiring by the end of 2021 the CEIV Pharma* pharmaceutical transport quality certification advocated by the IATA.
Good Distribution Practice (GDP), a quality system used by the pharmaceuticals industry to ensure the proper distribution of pharmaceuticals, has been enshrined into law by the EU, and Japan published its own version of GDP guidelines on December 28, 2018, both initiatives indicative of global-level demand for tight control over the entire distribution chain from procurement of raw materials to supply of products to the final consumer.
The pharmaceutical industry has been positioned as a priority industry in the "Nippon Express Group Business Plan 2023 - 'Dynamic Growth'", and Nippon Express is working to develop a pharmaceutical supply network that achieves total optimization of pharmaceutical logistics. Construction is underway of pharmaceutical centers that will constitute the core of this network, with the Kyushu facility having recently been completed and the West Japan, East Japan and Toyama centers to be finished soon.
By acquiring this certification encompassing the GDP standards of countries around the world, Nippon Express will be able to provide safer and higher-quality pharmaceutical transport services on a global basis from Kansai International Airport, the gateway to western Japan.
CEIV Pharma (The Center of Excellence for Independent Validators in Pharmaceutical Logistics): a quality certification program established by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to cover the air transport of pharmaceutical products that sets out high standards encompassing the differing Good Distribution Practice (GDP) guidelines of countries around the world for the storage and transport of pharmaceuticals
