A FedEx worker passes his truck in the North Beach area on June 23, 2026 in San Francisco, California.
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As the demand for specialty drugs increases such as GLP-1s, commodity companies including UPS again FedEx they adjust their strategies to be able to better ship and store those drugs.
Many injectable GLP-1 drugs, including Novo NordiskOzempic and Wegovy and Eli LillyMounjaro and Zepbound, require freezer space to ship.
The Covid pandemic put healthcare at center stage in 2020, as the rapid shipment of temperature-controlled vaccines became a key part of keeping the virus at bay. And as more money has been poured into the development of new drugs, the migration of those products has become evident.
Logistics companies are now investing millions of dollars and strengthening a number of temperature controlled facilities to enter the market.
In June, UPS announced a new $48 million investment in temperature-controlled facilities as it sees growing demand for critical care. According to Growth Market Reports, the demand for temperature-sensitive biologics is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 8.3% by 2033 and reach an estimated market value of $39.1 billion.
Meanwhile, drugs for obesity and diabetes have increased dramatically. A July Gallup poll found that 11% of Americans are taking GLP-1 medications for weight loss in 2026, up from 3% in 2024.
But if they are not stored and shipped at the right temperature, they risk losing their effectiveness.
The Food and Drug Administration has warned that improper storage during shipping can affect the quality of the drug and recommends that patients not use GLP-1 drugs that arrive “warm or inadequately refrigerated.”
Some biologics, such as other vaccines, insulin and antibiotics, also require special administration to maintain effectiveness. For logistics companies, that means ensuring proper storage and movement at every step of the way.
Gathering up
Healthcare management proved to be one of the biggest opportunities for UPS. In an earnings call with analysts in April, CEO Carol Tomé said the company’s global healthcare portfolio has gained market share every year since 2021, generating its first quarter of healthcare revenue of $3 billion in the first quarter of this year.
UPS Healthcare President John Bolla told CNBC that the company is seeing more healthcare companies looking for partners to keep up with the volume.
“One of the biggest opportunities we see is supporting the transition to specialty treatments and additional care delivered outside of traditional health care settings,” Bolla said.
United Parcel Service trucks are parked at a UPS customer center in Los Angeles on April 1, 2024.
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He said that UPS is dealing with “rapid growth” in medicine, cells and genetics, although the biggest challenge is that the margin of error is small – even a short deviation in the right temperature can damage the medicine, said Bolla.
“But that’s also what creates such an important opportunity in health care,” he said. “As treatments become more specialized and supply chains become more complex, healthcare companies need partners that not only provide temperature-controlled storage or transportation, but end-to-end visibility, control and reliability across the network.”
FedEx is also getting in on the trend, launching a life sciences division earlier this month to support the movement of medicines and other health care products.
On an earnings call in June, FedEx Chief Consumer Officer Brie Carere told analysts that healthcare transportation revenue in fiscal year 2026 will reach nearly $10 billion.
“We create end-to-end solutions focused on global pharmacy customers, and the most important thing about global pharma is that you have to be aware that there is a patient at the end of every delivery or someone waiting for treatment,” said Nick Gennari, president of healthcare for FedEx. “So we take this very seriously.”
With GLP-1 specifically, Gennari said there is increasing difficulty in delivering those drugs, in forms ranging from injections to oral tablets and directly to the consumer. But with that difficulty comes FedEx’s growth opportunity, which he said is “well positioned.”
Gennari said FedEx has unique technologies, including a machine learning engine that allows customers to see product movement with predictive capabilities, as well as its technology that identifies healthcare products and treats each one differently depending on their unique needs.
Gennari also said he is “very comfortable” with the company’s core competencies and its expansion plans, including cold-chain logistics.
“A lot of the infrastructure needed to be successful in this space, we already have. We have an airline; we have an amazing system; we have the capacity to lift. The network is tough and very efficient,” he said.
Complex supply chain
CH Robinson told CNBC that the transportation company surpassed $1 billion in revenue for healthcare supplies alone last year, largely due to the growth of GLP-1 drugs, as it invests in temperature-controlled facilities.
“You have to have that end-to-end connection, so you have to have a really good network and infrastructure built to be able to serve healthcare customers,” said Ronnie Davis, the company’s vice president of North American logistics.
Davis said the drug supply chain has also become more complex. In addition to requiring refrigeration, many drugs have a short shelf life and need to be delivered in precise time windows.
“The innovation that has been developed has been bringing drugs to market,” Davis said. “I think what you’re starting to see is that it’s really putting pressure on the cold chain supply chains in the market. … With the growth of GLP-1s and other specialty drugs, it’s creating a competitive environment for the same refrigerated supply chains that are out there, and, obviously, that supply is not limited, it’s forced.”
Davis said CH Robinson is working to increase his skills, especially to keep up with high volume. At the same time, he added, pharma companies are also trying to innovate to bring their products to market with a longer shelf life.
That innovation also coincides with the growing capabilities of artificial intelligence, according to Hendrik Venter, CEO of DHL Supply Chain. The logistics company is using AI to monitor important life sciences products, tracking temperatures and anticipating where a problem might occur.
“You’re seeing the industry go from generic to biopharma,” Venter told CNBC. “You need to have a strong supply chain and be able to ship to all these different temperatures.”
The company announced last year that it plans to invest 2 billion euros ($2.25 billion) in healthcare transportation by 2030, half of which will be allocated to the Americas.
Many pharmaceutical companies also outsource their warehousing operations to DHL, Venter said. The company takes those resources, manages them and integrates them with their entire network.
DHL has launched a global pharmaceutical air corridor, with a dedicated aircraft and a connected network that ensures medicines are not sent through different regulatory zones.
“You can’t lose the product. You can’t replace it. It needs to be delivered on time, every time, at the right quality and temperature,” Venter said. “So we continue to look selectively at how we can strengthen that network.”
