Managing a pharma supply chain and guaranteeing effectiveness is a multifarious and all-hands-on-deck sort of work. It starts with the procurement of raw materials—chemicals and ingredients—used to produce the medications, which subsequently in the manufacturing stage are formulated, subjected to rigorous quality checks, packed, labeled, and transported to the warehouse or distribution center before they are delivered to hospitals, pharmacies, and medical providers.
Managing a pharma supply chain asks for more than simply guaranteeing product quality, confronting regular product recalls and compliance concerns, or supervising temperature regulated shipments; this whole process demands a sharp eye for detail. It is about owning the life of others on your shoulders.
Any little delay might prove to be disastrous as it can either aggravate a patient’s condition or perhaps cause death. By making the chain end-to- end transparent and traceable, a Pharma supply chain also bears the duty for combating counterfeiting and diversion. Pharma companies are using digital technologies including blockchain, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things (IoT) to improve transparency, traceability, and efficiency in their supply chains ever since the epidemic underlined the relevance and fragility of the pharma supply chain.
This isn’t all, however. The evolving face of the drug supply chain is about where, not about how or what they are changing for. Published by EY, a recent paper called Pharma Supply Chains of the Future shows that following geopolitical uncertainty (Russia-Ukraine and China-Taiwan, for example) and continuous post-pandemic supply shocks, Pharma businesses are shifting toward regional centers instead of globalization at this point.
Those linked to the pharma chain—that includes supply chain managers, legislators, or suppliers—must never forget the ultimate objective of providing the patients with the correct medicine at the correct moment. Establishing regional hubs helps give more degrees of resilience and flexibility, therefore enabling better achievement of this aim. According to the research, while the sector could anticipate certain localization-oriented trends, they are probably mixed with other new ideas. The stages of the supply chain under consideration will determine the implication of localization. The simplest form of the procedure would be businesses making sure local inventories of completed items inventory.
The many phases of the pharma production process involve varied degrees of investment to localize: A drug business might very quickly localize secondary like:
- Packaging: They might outsource the same to a local contract development and manufacturing company or create a licensed site certified by a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP).
(GMP explains the lowest level of quality a producer of a medication has to satisfy throughout manufacturing.)
Infrastructure: One would need to get and keep the main packaged product from past supply chain phases. Along with physical labor provided locally and the existence of a quality organization and maintenance staff, carrying out the on-site secondary packaging would demand for basic extra raw materials such cardboard, glue, and printer cartridges.
As API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient) manufacturing is a biologically active component of a drug product, which need a careful assessment and handling, the complexity will rise with increased needs for complex raw materials, skilled labor, and higher capital outlay to build sites for higher-technology manufacturing should the companies seek to localize in the early stages of the manufacturing process.
Is localizing API manufacturing a good concept?
According to the report, while localization of API manufacture may assist harvest significantly better agility, it will lack the other vital supply chain metrics, like dependability, time to innovate, risk exposure, and efficiency.
On the other hand, if one emphasizes the less expensive, simpler solution of localizing completed items instead of the manufacturing process itself, the dependability of product supply would probably increase as more of the product would be locally kept for distribution. One cannot argue, nevertheless, that it will really improve any other promise of resilience. Thus, it is essential to evaluate the benefits of localization in reality, compared to any other option (procurement clearing house or joint warehouses, various sourcing of raw materials, or decreasing regulatory processing timeframes) that exists for enhancing pharma supply resilience.
Therefore, success for any pharma firm depends on working jointly and cooperatively with the stakeholders in order to develop resilience and provide customers with wanted results.
