Logistics giants are racing to keep up with healthcare boom as GLP-1s highlight need for cold storage
A FedEx worker walks past his truck in the North Beach neighborhood on June 23, 2026 in San Francisco, California.
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As demand rises for specialized medications like GLP-1s, logistics companies including UPS and FedEx are adapting their strategies to be able to better ship and store those pharmaceuticals.
Most injectable GLP-1 medications, including Novo Nordisk‘s Ozempic and Wegovy and Eli Lilly‘s Mounjaro and Zepbound, require refrigerated storage for shipment.
The Covid pandemic put healthcare logistics at center stage in 2020, as the shipping of temperature-controlled vaccines quickly became a crucial part of keeping the virus at bay. And as more money has been poured into new pharmaceutical innovations, the transportation of those products have come under the spotlight.
Logistics companies are now investing millions of dollars and strengthening dozens of temperature-controlled facilities to tap into the market.
In June, UPS announced a new $48 million investment in temperature-controlled facilities as it sees a growing demand for critical treatments. According to Growth Market Reports, the demand for temperature-sensitive biologics is projected to grow at an 8.3% compound annual growth rate through 2033 and reach a market value of roughly $39.1 billion.
Obesity and diabetes drugs, meanwhile, have been booming in popularity. A July Gallup poll found that 11% of Americans take GLP-1 medications for weight loss purposes in 2026, up from just 3% in 2024.
But if they’re not stored and shipped at the correct temperature, they risk losing their efficacy.
The Food and Drug Administration has warned that improper storage during shipping can affect the medicine’s quality and recommends patients do not use GLP-1 drugs that arrive “warm or with insufficient refrigeration.”
Other biologics, like some vaccines, insulin and antibiotics, also require specialized shipment to maintain efficacy. For logistics companies, that means ensuring the proper storage and movement every step of the way.
Bulking up
Healthcare logistics have proven to be one of UPS’ biggest opportunities. On 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 ever $3 billion healthcare revenue quarter in the first quarter of this year.
UPS President of Healthcare 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 shift toward more specialized therapies and more care delivered outside of traditional healthcare settings,” Bolla said.
United Parcel Service trucks are parked at a UPS customer center in Los Angeles on April 1, 2024.
Mario Tama | Getty Images
He said UPS is experiencing “rapid growth” in biologics, cell and gene therapies, though the biggest challenge is that the margin for error is small — even a brief stray from the correct temperature can ruin the medicines, Bolla said.
“But that’s also what’s creating such a significant opportunity in healthcare logistics,” he said. “As treatments become more specialized and supply chains become more complex, healthcare companies need partners that can provide not just temperature-controlled storage or transportation, but end-to-end visibility, control and reliability across the entire network.”
FedEx is also tapping into the trend, launching a life sciences organization earlier this month specifically to support the movement of pharmaceuticals and other healthcare products.
On an earnings call in June, FedEx’s Chief Customer Officer Brie Carere told analysts that healthcare transportation revenue in fiscal year 2026 reached nearly $10 billion.
“We’re building end-to-end solutions focused on global pharma customers, and what’s so important with global pharma is that you have to recognize that there’s a patient at the end of every delivery or someone that’s waiting to be treated,” said Nick Gennari, FedEx’s president of healthcare. “So we take this very, very seriously.”
With GLP-1s specifically, Gennari said there’s an increasing complexity to delivering those medications, with forms ranging from injectables to oral pills and going direct-to-consumer. But with that complexity comes a growth opportunity for FedEx, which he said is “ideally positioned.”
Gennari said FedEx has specialized technology, including its machine learning engine that allows customers to see product movement with predictive abilities, as well as its technology that identifies healthcare products and treats each differently depending on its unique needs.
Gennari also said he’s “very comfortable” with the company’s base capabilities and its plans for expansion, including cold-chain logistics.
“Much of the infrastructure that’s required to be successful in this space, we already have. We have the airline; we have an incredible schedule; we have the lift capabilities. The network is hardened and works very well,” he said.
Complex supply chains
C.H. Robinson told CNBC the logistics company had surpassed $1 billion in revenue in healthcare logistics alone over the past year, largely due to the growth in GLP-1 drugs, as it has been investing in temperature-controlled facilities.
“You need to really have that end-to-end connectivity, so you’ve got to have a really nice network and infrastructure built out in order to properly service the healthcare customers,” said Ronnie Davis, the company’s vice president of North American surface transportation.
Davis said the supply chain for medications has also become more complicated. In addition to requiring refrigeration, many drugs have a short shelf life and need to be delivered in precise windows of time.
“A lot of the innovation has been on getting the drugs to the market,” Davis said. “I think what you’re starting to see is that’s really putting stress on the capabilities of the cold chain supply chains in the marketplace. … With the rise of GLP-1s and other specialized medicine, it’s really creating a competitive nature for the same refrigerated supply resources that are there and, quite candidly, that supply is not unlimited, it’s constrained.”
Davis said C.H. Robinson is working to amp up its capabilities, especially to keep up with the higher volume. At the same time, he added, pharma companies are also trying to get creative to bring their products to market with a longer shelf life.
That innovation is also intersecting with the growth of artificial intelligence capabilities, according to Hendrik Venter, CEO of DHL Supply Chain. The logistics company uses AI to monitor critical life science products, tracking temperatures and anticipating where an issue might happen.
“You’re seeing the industry moving from conventional to biopharma,” Venter told CNBC. “You need to have a supply chain that is resilient and capable of shipping in all of these various temperature zones.”
The company announced last year that it plans to invest 2 billion euros ($2.25 billion) in health logistics by 2030, with half of that allocated to the Americas.
A lot of pharmaceutical companies are also outsourcing their warehousing activities to DHL, Venter said. The company takes over those facilities, manages them and integrates them into the rest of their network.
DHL launched a pharmaceutical air corridor around the world, with a dedicated aircraft and connected network that ensures the drugs are not being shipped through separate regulatory environments.
“You cannot lose a shipment. You cannot replace it. It needs to be delivered on time, every time, in the right quality and temperatures,” Venter said. “So we continue to selectively look at how to strengthen that network.”
