ICS + World Courier: United in our purpose—impacting the health and future of patients with failing hearts
By World Courier
The Aeson® total artificial heart, developed by Carmat, is designed to prolong the lives of people suffering from irreversible end-stage heart failure, giving them the precious time necessary to coordinate a human heart transplant. Located in Vélizy-Villacoublay, France, Carmat needed a solution to facilitate storage and distribution for their life-saving prosthesis currently in U.S. clinical trials. ICS and World Courier were equal to–and very appreciative of–the challenge.
“This unique opportunity came to us from World Courier, who had a prior relationship with Carmat for product shipment services,” explains Ann Pham, Director of Business Development at ICS. “It was a great way for our organizations to collaborate on a very meaningful international program that ultimately helps save lives.”
Working together, teams from ICS and World Courier tailored a first-of-its-kind, integrated solution for Carmat in which World Courier manages shipments from France to ICS and ICS provides 3PL storage and distribution in its US-based facilities.
“This was a wonderful example of World Courier and ICS working together to provide an end-to-end solution to a manufacturer,” says Michele Taylor, Manager, Strategic Accounts, at ICS. Taylor notes the initial challenge in solutioning for Carmat was how to take the manufacturer’s well-defined, highly complex program and distribute the Aeson® heart and power supply within ICS compliance requirements and on a timeline that adjusts based on patient need.
“On the ICS side, associates from the Implementation Team, Account Management, Operations, Compliance, Distribution, and Transportation teams were involved in numerous strategic touch points to support the Carmat effort. I haven’t seen anything on this level before,” continues Pham. “It’s a completely custom program, in which experts across the various functional ICS teams united to design robust storage and distribution processes specific to Carmat.”
