DHL Express expands Mexico-U.S. delivery network for clinical trial samples

Delivery firm DHL Express said it will expand its “Medical Express” service, which transports Mexican patient samples to U.S. labs in less than 24 hours from the time the samples are drawn, to include 17 additional origin cities in Mexico.

The service, which began in July 2018 in Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey, will cut one day out of the transit times from more distant Mexican cities to U.S. labs, according to Plantation, Florida-based DHL Express. DHL Express operates direct daily flights from Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey that arrive at its regional hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. The shipments are delivered the next morning to U.S. lab locations. The expanded service will start sometime in the second quarter, DHL Express said.

For Mexico-originated shipments, the exporters of record – typically pharmaceutical companies acting as sponsors or clinical research organizations – will administer a one-time administrative change process that will allow DHL Express to export samples on their behalf from three export points.

DHL Express touts itself as the first integrator – a firm that operates an integrated air-surface fleet – to enter Mexican and South American markets with a comprehensive service offering geared toward the needs of the clinical research sector.

In an e-mail yesterday, Brian Bralynski, DHL Express’ director of life sciences healthcare, said that  many Mexican patients participating in clinical trials, as well as diagnostic labs conducted specialized testing, use U.S.-based labs to analyze samples. In order to comply with Mexican Ministry of Health regulations and achieve delivery turn times of less than 24 hours, Mexico exporters of records must approve DHL as a named supplier to export samples on their behalf, Bralynski said