A pharma CFA receives stock from the manufacturer, stores it in drug-licensed, temperature-controlled facilities, manages inventory batch-wise and expiry-wise, and processes and dispatches orders to stockists and distributors on the company's behalf. Ownership of the goods stays with the company — the CFA operates the storage, compliance, and distribution leg for a service fee.

It depends on the label claim: cold chain products like vaccines and insulin need 2°C–8°C, products labelled "store in a cool place" need 8°C–25°C, and most tablets and capsules need controlled room temperature of 15°C–25°C. A pharma warehouse runs separate temperature zones so each product is held at its labelled condition.

Yes. Storing and distributing medicines on behalf of a manufacturer requires a wholesale drug license for the premises, and the facility must follow the storage conditions, record-keeping, and handling requirements that come with it. Businesses should confirm their CFA partner's facilities are drug-licensed before moving stock.

Cold chain is the unbroken system of refrigerated storage, handling, and transport that keeps temperature-sensitive products — typically vaccines, insulin, and biologics — within 2°C–8°C from the manufacturer to the point of use. A single break in the chain can destroy potency even if the product looks perfectly normal.

Active ingredients degrade, which reduces potency — and for cold chain products, both overheating and accidental freezing can inactivate the product entirely. The damage is usually invisible: the medicine looks unchanged but no longer works as intended, which is why temperature records matter as much as the storage itself.

Every consignment is recorded batch-wise with its expiry date at receiving. Stock is then rotated on FEFO (First Expiry, First Out) so the batch closest to expiry always dispatches first, and expired or damaged batches are quarantined separately for destruction rather than left in saleable stock.

FEFO (First Expiry, First Out) dispatches the batch with the nearest expiry date first, regardless of when it arrived. It is the standard rotation method for pharmaceuticals because remaining shelf life — not arrival date — decides whether stock is usable by the time it reaches the patient.

Yes, provided the facility runs separate chambers for each condition — 2°C–8°C refrigerated chambers for vaccines and biologics, and controlled room temperature areas for general medicines — since the two need very different environments and monitoring.

Chambers and refrigerated vehicles are monitored continuously, with temperatures logged at short, fixed intervals and deviations flagged immediately. These records are kept as evidence that every batch stayed within its labelled range across storage, loading, and transit — not just inside the warehouse.