All thawed out
Bavarian Nordic A/S announced the submission of a supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking approval of a freeze-dried formulation of Jynneos for prevention of smallpox and mpox in adults 18 or older.
According to a news release, a liquid-frozen formulation of Jynneos gained FDA approval in September 2019. “It remains the only approved mpox vaccine anywhere in the world and the only non-replicating smallpox vaccine approved in the U.S. This formulation … has specific cold-chain requirements, while the freeze-dried formulation provides more flexibility in terms of transportation, storage conditions and shelf life, thus being more suitable for long-term stockpiling.”
Should the freeze-dried solution be approved, it would provide solutions to those in need where ultra-low-temperature cold chain solutions are harder to come by.
Temperature Checks
The Windy City is seeing a surge in cold storage development. A prime example of this is Karis Cold’s construction of a 100,000-square-foot facility in Chicago’s historic Stockyards district, while Alston Construction is building a 389,880-square-foot freezer storage facility in Plainfield, Illinois, in partnership with Barber Partners. The average cold storage building in the U.S. is over 40 years old, and since demands on cold storage facilities are wildly different from 40 years ago, complete rebuilds start to look much more attractive than refurbishments.
Tom Degan, vice president of cold storage at Alston Construction Company, said in a RE Journals article, “The pandemic greatly increased e-commerce in all markets but especially in the grocery sector. Now that e-commerce in the food industry is widely accepted, grocery footprints are changing, restaurants are adapting and more cold storage facilities are required to accommodate the increased demand.”
Food and Drug
Encore Consumer Capital, a private equity firm that invests exclusively in consumer products, has acquired Chalet Desserts, best known for cake pops and ice cream inclusions. The ice cream food inclusion market was estimated at $13.2 billion in 2020 and projected to grow 7.6% year over year through 2026. Inclusions can mean any flavor or visible ingredient added to the sweet treat, such as candies, candy bars, flavored sugar, chocolate chips or baked chips, as well as fruits and nuts, herbs, spices, and the occasional flower petal. I’m not sure I’m the right audience for flower petals in ice cream but to each his or her own.
Kate Wallman, managing director of Encore Consumer Capital, said in a news release, “We are excited to partner with Dave and the Chalet team. Chalet is a category leader and we look forward to supporting the growth of the business through add-on acquisitions, organic growth initiatives and investments in capacity.
Chalet’s existing management team is expected to stay on through the acquisition, but terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Cold chain lanes
The post-holiday cleanup is coming to a close in Memphis, Tennessee, as both reefer outbound tender volumes and rejections plummet. Rejections still at 22.5% does represent an inflated spot market. However, as the market returns to normal, reefer rejection rates are expected to return to mid-May levels of about 10%-15%, which does signal some elevated spot rates but not nearly as high as when rejections get above 20%.
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Shelf life
Ember Technologies: 2024 TIME100 most influential companies
Airlines may serve up more frozen food for in-flight meals
Amazon Fresh is cutting prices on thousands of grocery items by as much as 30%
NI refrigerated haulier bolsters biogas fleet in £3.1 million investment
Grills are heating up nationwide, and so is demand for beef
Wanna chat in the cooler? Shoot me an email with comments, questions or story ideas at moconnell@freightwaves.com.
See you on the internet.
Mary
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