Facing growing demand, Innomar Strategies has opened a large third-party logistics centre in Halton Hills.
The 92,000-square-foot facility on Cleve Court in southern Halton Hills is designed to store and handle pharmaceutical and medical device products, including complex specialty medications.
Several temperature-controlled storage areas are available ranging from comfortable for humans at 15 to 25 degrees Celsius to downright Arctic temps of -40 to -80 degrees.
The company says specialty pharmaceutical products have grown at a rapid rate over the last decade and often require unique storage, transport and handling considerations.
“Opening this new facility in Ontario reflects our commitment to grow and evolve alongside our partners, and to continue to invest in solutions that enable us to maintain a secure and reliable pharma supply chain,” said Guy Payette, president of Innomar Strategies.
Innomar’s Vice President of Specialty Operations Jason Zabransky says the Halton Hills location is ideal for several reasons, including easy access to highways and the company's pre-existing, similar facility in Milton.
“We also just find that the population in Milton and Halton Hills is continuing to grow, so we have a large pool of candidates that we can recruit,” Zabransky said.
“The anticipation is that this [Halton Hills] facility will be upwards of 40 staff by the time it's at full capacity.”
The pandemic and the need for distribution of vaccines - with Innomar boasting delivery of over 78 million COVID-19 vaccines across the country - was one of the factors pushing the company to pursue a new building.
But it’s not just limited to pharmaceuticals like vaccines and medicines. Complex medical devices used for surgeries to simpler ones like syringes will be stored at the local facility.
"As our manufacturer partners grow their business and more pharmaceutical and biotech companies look to launch products in Canada, we continue to invest in solutions and infrastructure that enable us to meet their evolving needs and support the unique requirements of the products being developed today," said Zabransky.
Innomar says it has extensive experience handling complex and highly-sensitive products, such as those for rare and orphan diseases and cell and gene therapies.
