Delivering Critical Cargo: Why Stock Throughput Insurance Matters to Life Sciences Leaders

Delivering Critical Cargo: Why Stock Throughput Insurance Matters to Life Sciences Leaders
August 13, 2025 6 mins

Delivering Critical Cargo: Why Stock Throughput Insurance Matters to Life Sciences Leaders

Why Stock Throughput Insurance Is Critical for Life Sciences Cargo Risk Management

Patient access to critical life sciences products is at risk when supply chains are disrupted. In a dynamic risk landscape, organizations are leveraging stock throughput insurance along with advanced risk strategies to ensure continuity, compliance and reputation.

Key Takeaways
  1. Compromised products can cost lives. Exposure to improper conditions can have serious repercussions, from legal liabilities to reputational damage.
  2. Understanding the ripple effects of route disruptions and supply chain vulnerabilities is vital for agile, risk-led decision making.
  3. Stock throughput insurance, especially when paired with customized coverage, can mitigate cargo losses across every stage — from raw ingredients to finished dosages.

Volatility is shaping decision making in the life sciences sector, with climate events, geopolitical risks and evolving regulations exposing new fault lines and exacerbating existing challenges. For organizations supplying vital biologics, active pharmaceutical ingredients and diagnostic devices, the stakes are not just commercial — they are measured in patient outcomes and public trust.

Today’s life sciences products demand rigorous control: Many are temperature-sensitive, high-value and regulated to a granular degree. Mishandling or environmental excursions not only jeopardize efficacy, but open organizations to litigation and reputational damage.

Stock throughput insurance (STP) stands out as a strategic solution, consolidating many exposures into a single overarching policy. By protecting assets from origin to final delivery, including all transit and storage phases, STP policies empower risk managers to sustain business continuity and protect profit margins as pressures mount.

Key Challenges Facing Life Sciences Cargo in Transit

  • The Cold Chain Imperative

    Maintaining stable temperatures from dock to bedside is a non-negotiable. Yet depending on temperature verification from various sources — dockworkers, truckers and port crews — introduces reliability issues. Power grid instability in high-risk geographies amplifies these challenges, further threatening product integrity.

  • High-Value, Low-Volume Dynamics

    Millions of dollars can be at stake, even with smaller life sciences shipments. Splitting loads to fit insurance caps creates operational inefficiency, raises emissions and complicates sustainability reporting. Avoiding underloading is a double-edged sword: It can reduce emissions, but it can also complicate container filling and risks delays in meeting demand.

  • A Regulatory Maze

    From the European Union’s newly suggested Critical Medicines Act to evolving FDA and Chinese manufacturing incentives, global compliance is a moving target. Temporary exceptions for medicines during crises make risk modeling and insurance placement more complex.

  • Escalating Cargo Theft and Fraud

    Criminal tactics have evolved. Logistics platform manipulation, fraudulent carriers and documentation forgery are rising threats. In-demand products, particularly GLP-1s, are frequent targets and expose organizations to substantial losses.

  • Risk Accumulation Hotspots

    Concentration of materials in key hubs, often for just-in-time manufacturing or tariff avoidance, drives up both risk and premiums. Supply chain managers face a delicate balancing act between operational efficiency and insurability.

  • Reputation Threats and Fear of Loss

    Perceived contamination — even in the absence of confirmed physical damage — and transit delays can trigger costly cargo rejection and lasting reputational damage. Companies are increasingly judged on how proactively and transparently they manage these risks.

$48B

$48 billion in pharmaceuticals are lost annually due to temperature excursions and other supply chain failures.

Source: Pharma’s Almanac

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Life sciences companies are under scrutiny, not just for the cargo that is lost, but for how losses are anticipated — and how swiftly they are remediated. To avoid shortages of life-saving medication, companies will hold high stock levels, freezing products at various stages to recreate them if a loss occurs.

Anne-Christine Fischer
Global Life Sciences Consulting Leader

How Stock Throughput Insurance Underpins a Robust Risk Strategy

5 Strategic Moves for Maximizing Cargo Resilience

  1. Work with Specialist Brokers on Program Design
    An experienced risk advisor will calibrate limits to address exposure hotspots and leverage coverage essential for life sciences cargo.
  2. Deploy Real-Time Data and Analytics
    Sensors for temperature, humidity and shock deliver actionable insights, enabling pre-emptive interventions and forensic traceability for claims and recovery.
  3. Expand Supply Chain Mapping to Reduce Blind Spots
    Next-level transparency — down to second- and third-tier suppliers — equips both risk teams and insurers to model accumulations and anti-theft strategies with greater precision.

    “Life sciences organizations with comprehensive supply chain visibility can make data-led decisions and quickly adapt to volatile trading environments,” explains Dr. Nick Chapman, Aon’s Head of Cargo and Logistics in Asia.
  4. Embed Sustainability and Loss Control into Cold Supply Chain Logistics
    Optimization of mode, equipment and carrier selection can lower both emissions and exposures. Insurance terms can incentivize sustainable behaviors and modal shifts.

    “Maintaining the integrity of cold supply chain carriage conditions from origin to destination is critical to minimizing risk of loss vulnerabilities,” explains Chris Law, Aon’s Head of Marine Risk Engineering and Loss Control in the United States.
  5. Tackle Strategic Theft via Verification and Vetting
    Enhanced carrier due diligence, biometric driver authentication and platform-based contractor screening are now baseline requirements for favorable insurance outcomes.
How STP Improves Claims Outcomes

How STP Improves Claims Outcomes

A life sciences manufacturer experienced a suspected micro-fracture issue during transit of ventilator boards. The incumbent insurer only offered partial recompense, requiring destructive testing for proof of loss. A switch to a well-structured STP policy secured better insurance terms, providing coverage for damaged goods in the future.

“Choosing an insurance partner that understands the operational, regulatory and patient-critical realities of life sciences is the difference between resilience and disruption,” says Kris Kimble, Aon’s Chief Commercial Officer for the London Marine practice.

Your Next Step: Future-Proofing Life Sciences Supply Chains

True risk resilience is built not only on robust insurance, but on a data-driven, partnership-led approach to detection and mitigation.

Are you ready to proactively manage exposures and turn risk into a strategic advantage?

Let’s start a conversation about how tailored STP can protect your business across the value chain.

Aon’s Thought Leaders

Dr. Nick Chapman
Head of Cargo and Logistics, Asia

Anne-Christine Fischer
Global Consulting Lead, Life Sciences

Kris Kimble
Chief Commercial Officer, London Marine

Chris Law
Senior Vice President, National Marine Practice, United States

Meaghan Piscitelli
Global Life Sciences Leader

Lars Sorensen
Life Sciences Industry Leader, Europe, the Middle East and Africa

Roxsann Wilson
SVP, Account Executive, Life Sciences Industry Practice

Tomas Winje
Head of Cargo and Logistics, Europe, the Middle East and Africa

General Disclaimer

The information contained herein and the statements expressed are of a general nature and are not intended to address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity. Although we endeavor to provide accurate and timely information and use sources we consider reliable, there can be no guarantee that such information is accurate as of the date it is received or that it will continue to be accurate in the future. No one should act on such information without appropriate professional advice after a thorough examination of the particular situation.

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