Dry ice is an excellent medium to use in pharmaceutical companies and labs that may need to transport certain types of perishable medication that may require refrigeration during shipment.  Pharmaceutical labs use dry ice as part of their research and experimentation process.  Dry ice is most often used to keep liquids cold during shipment and storage.  Dry ice is also a component in some compresses so that swelling can be reduced and skin can be cooled more quickly than with water or other, less orthodox methods.

Dry ice is a component not only in pharmaceutical experiments, but can often be found in chemistry labs as well, either as a part of the pharmaceutical industry or part of chemical experiments.  This is especially true for high school and college students in the US and Canada who may be required to carry out minor chemical reaction experiments in a controlled laboratory setting.  Dry ice is used to store and ship pharmaceuticals that may spoil during shipping if a certain temperature isn’t maintained.

Hospitals and Clinics

Dry ice is most often used to transfer bodily organs, blood, certain types of fluids, and medical grade liquids that need to be kept cold or maintained at a specific temperature.

Organs used for donation purposes are vital pieces of organic matter that may literally save someone’s life; therefore, their care, maintenance, and proper storage during transport is extremely important.  Human organs and tissue samples must be stored and transported within a specific time frame and at a specific temperature so they will not sustain damage in transport or come into contact with potential contaminants.  Tissue samples may deteriorate quickly if conditions are not ideal, and human organs are extremely sensitive and must be handled with extreme care.  Dry ice is perfect for this type of transport because there is no liquid to destroy samples or accelerate the deterioration process.

Clinics use dry ice to store blood as well as test blood samples for specific conditions or diseases.  When blood samples are placed in a centrifuge, dry ice is necessary to keep all blood samples stable and keep conditions in a constant, temperature-controlled state.

Dry ice is necessary for hospitals and clinics to properly store and keep a variety of samples, chemicals for chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and certain types of medications.