THL's pharmaceutical wholesale business acquires OneClinic Logistics System to help improve the efficiency of vaccine distribution

One of the key tasks for the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) is to procure and distribute vaccines that are part of the national vaccination programme. In recent years, the activities of the pharmaceutical wholesaler have continued to expand and diversify. Toni Relander, the wholesale manager, says that the scope of the business has expanded significantly with the introduction of the procurement and storage of pharmaceutical products in the emergency stocks of the rescEU project.

”Our current logistics system is coded and maintained by THL’s own resources. It has served us well so far, but now so much has been added that it no longer meets our needs,” he points out.

More time for expert work

Viivi Isoniemelä, specialist planner for pharmaceutical wholesale at THL, expects OneClinic Logistics to reduce manual work above all.

”When the new system replaces the need to deal with emails, phone calls, and Excel, it frees up time to concentrate on specialist work,” she says.

The procurement, storage, and distribution of vaccines are usually quite routine. But there is room for improvement. Relander hopes that OneClinic Logistics will provide better and more up-to-date information on stock balances and values, make it easier to forecast spending, and give more accurate information on losses.

”We don’t really know where the vaccines that are not injected into the buttock or shoulder end up. The new system will make it easier to get more accurate information on this. Even now, data collection is manual and based on a questionnaire,” he says.

Overall, both Relander and Isoniemelä hope that OneClinic Logistics will facilitate the collection and reporting of a wide range of data. A well-functioning logistics system will also support the resolution of challenging situations. Some vaccines may need to be ordered and distributed quickly in large quantities; there may be availability problems or the shelf life of a vaccine may be short.

Isoniemelä says that the aim is also to improve cooperation between THL’s pharmaceutical wholesalers and the hospital pharmacies and pharmaceutical centres that order vaccines from them. In the future, they will be able to place their orders conveniently through the OneClinic Logistics system. This would also save having to deal with telephone calls and emails.

Resceu brings more work

Common EU emergency stocks across Europe are included as part of the rescEU project. The project aims to enhance the EU’s capacity to respond to large-scale disasters, threats, and crises. The new rescEU stockpile in Finland will focus on vaccines, medicines, medical supplies, and medical equipment needed to prepare for chemical, biological, radioactive, or nuclear threats.

In early 2024, THL’s pharmaceutical wholesale business was tasked with the procurement and storage of vaccines and pharmaceutical products in a new secure warehouse.

”We need to store, maintain, and group these products in the OneClinic Logistics information system. At the same time, we need to differentiate which products belong to the national vaccination programme and which to rescEU. RescEU safety storage requires a new way of thinking for us because until now, we have mainly dealt with vaccines that differ from other medicines, for example, in terms of labelling,” says Relander.

CEO of OneClinic Veli-Matti Pietilä praises the cooperation with THL experts.

”The project got off the ground quickly and has progressed according to plan,” he says.

More information
THL, wholesale manager Toni Relander, 050 324 0707
OneClinic, CEO Veli-Matti Pietilä, 050 543 4192