Partner News: Artyc Launches Medstow Mini for Temperature Stable Blood Sample Collection and Delivery
SAN FRANCISCO, September 12th, 2023 – Artyc PBC, a California-based cold chain startup, announced today the launch of Artyc’s Medstow Mini, a small battery-powered cooling container designed to transport medical goods through the supply chain.
The Medstow Mini is a reusable active temperature stabilization and cooling container for shipping blood samples, blood vials, and cells collected within the home or clinical settings. The Medstow Mini can withstand varying ambient temperatures, prevent temperature excursions, and provide live data insights on location and temperature of samples via a user-friendly app.
Artyc entered a joint development program for the Medstow Mini with Tasso Inc., the leading provider of patient-centric clinical-grade blood collection solutions, to develop a logistics solution that supports the temperature-controlled delivery of high-quality decentralized blood testing solutions for the pharmaceutical industry. Leveraging Tasso’s end-to-end integrated logistics platform to support shipping, participant engagement and more, the Medstow Mini is designed to meet the needs of next-generation at-home sample collection and remote diagnostics to ensure both accuracy and regulatory compliance for customers.
“With the launch of the Medstow Mini, Artyc is taking a first step towards building a sustainable cold chain,” said Hannah Sieber, co-founder and CEO of Artyc. “The Medstow Mini allows our customers to increase healthcare access, reduce packaging waste, and slash cold chain emissions. In partnership with Tasso, we’re excited to offer a novel solution for shipments of at-home diagnostics.”
Historically, global supply chains have relied on cold chain infrastructure such as refrigerated trucks, cold rooms, and cold packs to keep products at stable temperatures. Yet, these transport systems and cooling technologies are energy, capital and labor intensive, often leading to a lack of tight temperature regulation and visibility and resulting in sample spoilage and excessive cold chain waste
“We are excited to see new technologies such as those from Artyc being developed to provide the highest level of control over blood sample logistics,” said Erwin Berthier, co-founder and CTO of Tasso. “Bringing diagnostics to the home will provide access to an essential component of healthcare to many underserved patients but will require new solutions that ensure the integrity of samples and an efficient, safe and seamless shipping process. Through our collaboration, Artyc is in a position to be a leader in this space.”
At every stage of transport, from source to destination, Artyc’s Medstow Mini ensures product integrity by controlling, monitoring and reporting temperatures. This feature set is crucial for medical logistics; when transporting blood, for example, specimens must be stored at refrigerated temperatures between +2 and +8 degrees Celsius at all times. Prolonged excursion outside of this temperature range will spoil the sample. By electrifying the cold chain, Artyc provides precision temperature control for days rather than hours and offers a solution that is both reusable and rechargeable for sustainable logistics.
The Artyc Medstow Mini is the first of a suite of products to be launched by Artyc that are purpose-built for the medical industry. The company is developing additional products for other industries which require a cold supply chain, such as food and agriculture.