Clinical Trial Logistics in California
In a clinical trial, a sample is a data point that cannot be collected twice. The visit happened on a specific day under a specific protocol, and if the sample from that visit arrives warm, late or without its paperwork, it may be unusable. Lab Carriers moves trial kits, samples and investigational product between sites, sponsors, CROs and central labs with that in mind.
Our clinical trial logistics cover ambient, refrigerated, frozen and dry ice shipments, with chain of custody on every handoff, from Fremont and Inglewood and onward by Next Flight Out.
Clinical Trial Logistics with Lab Carriers
How Our Clinical Trial Logistics Work
Every protocol has its own lab manual. We work from yours: the pickup window after the visit, the temperature, the packaging and the destination.
Sample Pickup After Visits
Scheduled or on-call pickup once samples are processed, timed to the stability window in the protocol.
Kit and Supply Delivery
Collection kits, ancillary supplies and lab materials delivered to sites before the visit, not the morning of.
Ambient to Dry Ice
15–25°C, 2–8°C, frozen and dry ice shipments, with continuous logging and the temperature report at delivery.
UN3373 and Dry Ice
Drivers trained under IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations for Category B biological substances and Class 9 dry ice.
Chain of Custody
Timestamped custody at pickup, at any airport handoff and at delivery, ready for your trial files.
Next Flight Out to Central Labs
Same-day air to out-of-state central labs through SFO, OAK, SJC, SMF, LAX, BUR and LGB.
Clinical Trial Courier Services Built Around the Protocol
Who we work with
Research sites and site networks that need samples picked up after a visit and kits delivered before the next one. CROs and sponsors looking for a regional courier that follows the lab manual instead of improvising. Central and specialty labs receiving samples from across California. Biotech companies running early-phase studies in the Bay Area and Southern California, where many of their sites sit on our daily routes.
Stability windows drive the schedule
A trial sample usually has a window: processed within so many hours, frozen within so many, received by the lab before a cut-off. We plan pickups against those windows, not a generic route. If a visit runs late, the site calls dispatch and we move the pickup, because a sample sitting in a site freezer overnight waiting for a courier is a sample at risk. When the lab is out of state, we book Next Flight Out and track the shipment through recovery at the destination.
Documentation for audits
Trials get audited, and the courier records are part of the trail. Every run produces timestamped pickup and delivery records and signatures at each handoff, plus the logger report on temperature-controlled shipments. Our drivers are trained in HIPAA, bloodborne pathogens, IATA Dangerous Goods and Good Distribution Practice, and their training records are available when your monitor or QA team asks. Patient information on requisitions stays protected in transit.
Why research work fits us
I spent years managing logistics for a laboratory before starting Lab Carriers, so I know what it looks like from the receiving bench when a sample shows up without its paperwork or outside its window. Research teams are not asking for speed for its own sake. They are asking for a sample that still means something when it arrives. That is a standard we can meet every day, and it is the one we hold our drivers to.
Asif Rehman, President, Lab Carriers
Clinical Trial Logistics Across California
We support clinical trials statewide from two hubs. Our Fremont hub covers the Bay Area, Sacramento and the Central Valley, including San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Fremont, Berkeley, Santa Clara, Hayward, Sacramento, Stockton, Fresno. Our Inglewood hub, next to LAX, covers Southern California, including Los Angeles, Long Beach, Pasadena, Burbank, Torrance, Irvine, Anaheim, Riverside, San Diego.
Farther out, we run direct and team-driver routes to rural sites and use Next Flight Out through SFO, OAK, SJC, SMF, LAX, BUR and LGB. See our full California coverage.
Clinical Trial Logistics FAQs
Patient samples, collection kits and ancillary supplies, investigational product and lab materials, moving between sites, sponsors, CROs, depots and central labs.
Yes. Our drivers are trained under IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations, which cover dry ice as a Class 9 material, and we run frozen and dry ice shipments with continuous logging.
We schedule pickups against the processing and receipt windows in the protocol, and sites can call dispatch to move a pickup when a visit runs late.
Often, yes. We book Next Flight Out from SFO, OAK, SJC, SMF, LAX, BUR or LGB and track the shipment through recovery at the destination.
Timestamped chain of custody records and delivery signatures, plus the logger report for temperature-controlled shipments, ready for your trial files.
Yes. Dispatch is staffed 24/7, weekends and holidays included, for visits that do not keep business hours.
Related Services
Related healthcare logistics services from Lab Carriers, dispatched from our Fremont and Inglewood hubs:
Healthcare & Life Science Services
Set Up Clinical Trial Logistics
Send us your sites, your lab manual requirements and your central lab destinations. We will build the pickup schedule around them.
