CoVPN Case Study:
Breaking the Supply Chain Bottleneck
CoSo Health’s Flexible Approach
In 2020, the world went through a critical shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) and diagnostic supplies. COVID-19 investigators lacked masks, gloves and diagnostics needed to conduct clinical trials. CoSo Health jumped in and solved that challenge, finding new manufacturers for the U.S. government and setting up an international supply chain in record time. This enabled the COVID-19 vaccine trials to carry on uninterrupted, resulting in multiple approved vaccines.
CoSo Health is truly an innovative logistics model and the best partner that we’ve worked with.
Dr. Troy Martin, chief of staff, CoVPN
The Challenge
Amidst the pandemic, the U.S. government launched a global network of COVID-19 vaccine trials. Operation Warp Speed aimed to accelerate vaccine development through immunizing thousands of volunteers at test sites. This required abundant quantities of ancillary medical supplies while global demand made PPE nearly impossible to find.
A Fast, Flexible Solution
CoSo Health’s web-based CHIP platform allowed sites to place orders directly with and us to track supplies real-time from warehouses in each region to trial sites – all on an expedited timeline
Dr. Troy Martin, chief of staff, CoVPN
CoSo Health specializes in digital supply chain management for medical products. With deep industry connections and an international network of suppliers, CoSo Health can quickly streamline an existing supply chain or form a new one.
CoSo Health provides:
- Tracking and data management through a SaaS platform
- Sourcing
- Warehousing in FDA-registered warehouses
- Distribution and redistribution
- Kitting
Because the company had a global team, CoSoHealth was able to optimize finding the right manufacturing partners to help Operation Warp Speed.
CoSo Health sourced FDA-compliant PPE and diagnostics from Vietnam and South Korea. Then, CoSo Health set up a distribution network and trained users at 300 different clinical trial sites. Ultimately, CoSo Health handled the entire medical supply chain for the COVID-19 Prevention Network (CoVPN): sourcing, logistics, FDA-registered warehousing, distribution, data management and redistribution to remote sites.
CHIP, CoSo Health’s innovative SaaS supply chain management platform, drove the project. CHIP lets stakeholders know where their supplies are – from the time they leave the manufacturer to the warehouse to delivery to the end user offering analytics to support decisions. Using CHIP, remote site administrators ordered and managed their supplies while administrators tracked every item.
Results: From Vaccine Trials to the End of the Pandemic
Streamlined from start to finish, CoSo Health sourced directly from manufacturers distributing clinical supplies to 300 sites in the US, four countries in Latin America and eight countries in Africa faster than other suppliers. Problem solvers, they found a new route to import supplies into Brazil, reducing costs by 75%
Dr. Troy Martin, chief of staff, CoVPN
Within several weeks of coming onboard as CoVPN’s partner, CoSo Health’s FDA-registered warehouse became the center of a global hub-and-spoke system that sent supplies to 300+ trial sites, moving tens of thousands of units each month.
The project proceeded intensively for 16 months, with no supply chain hitches. Success can be measured by the speed of vaccine development and delivery. The first COVID-19 vaccines were approved in early 2021. These remarkable medicines allow citizens around the world to protect themselves and resume normal life.
“The supply chain works best when it’s visible, bringing products to individuals so they can do their jobs,” said Jae Lee, CoSo Health’s CEO.
CoSo Health continues to support CoVPN’s vaccine testing, bringing peace of mind so that administrators can focus on their mission.