Importing medicines from the US is a documentation exercise before it is a logistics one. The shipment itself is the easy part; what decides whether it clears smoothly is the paper that travels with it and the licences held on both ends.
Documents that travel with a typical export shipment — every 2B shipment carries this pack; the canonical list is in Logistics & cold chain:
- Commercial invoice and packing list — what is in the shipment, in what quantities, at what declared value.
- Certificate of origin — where the goods were made.
- Free-sale certificate / certificate of healthcare product — evidence the product is authorised for sale in its home market, where the destination requires it.
- Certificate of analysis — the batch’s test results against its specification.
- Temperature data-logger report — for refrigerated products, the recorded proof the cold chain held.
Licences: the exporter must be licensed to sell and ship medicines; the destination import licence and, where required, product registration sit with the importer unless agreed otherwise in writing.
Timelines: there is no honest single number. If the product is already registered in your market, an order moves at the speed of production and freight; if registration is still needed, that process — run by your market’s authority — sets the calendar. A good supplier confirms your timeline in writing at quotation, before you commit.