Book Description

The pharmaceutical industry must handle the supply side cost pressures of the day for profitability. However, increasing efficiencies along its supply chain through company mergers, the consolidation of production sites and the relocation of manufacturing create increasing complexity. It is no coincidence that this has led to an increased dependency on China and India. The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 is a large threat to pharmaceutical production, transportation, storage, supply and distribution. In recent years, worldwide supply shortages and stockouts for medicinal products have risen, so the COVID-19 pandemic intensifies the potential monetary and social consequences of drug shortages. A thorough understanding of pharmaceutical supply chain structures and the risks in supply chains and their management provide the fundamentals to assess the impact of the pandemic. The pharmaceutical industry is characterized by above-average stock levels to maintain its constant readiness to deliver to society. The German BfArM drug supply database and media reports allow a local analysis of this readiness during the pandemic. Bottlenecks from patient stockpiling and increased occupancy in intensive care units are evident, but the German COVID-19 pandemic has not led to significant supply shortages, indicating that above-average stock levels have ameliorated the e↵ects of the Chinese production cessation in early 2020. It remains unclear whether the consequences of production losses can be completely absorbed by the prevailing stockpiles particularly if the pandemic continues. Up to mid-2020, the pandemic impact has been minimal for the pharmaceutical industry. However, the industry must begin to include risk management strategies in its assessment of efficiency, by considering pandemic scenarios with higher death rates, more dependency on pharmaceuticals and longer periods of quarantine. For affected governments and other companies worldwide, it is clear that more transparency and communication along globalized supply chains is required in order to successfully manage present and future risks.