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Resilient and reliable: Creating the healthcare supply chains of the future

by

Marco Ruini, president, Bomi Group, a UPS Healthcare company, explores the future of supply chains in a post-pandemic landscape.

Key insights:

The future of post-pandemic healthcare has challenged us to rethink our supply chains from end to end.

Shortened clinical trial cycles, new technologies, next-generation medical innovations, risk management, and digitisation have and will set new standards and redefined norms for the industry.

More than half of all new drugs today are biologically derived. This makes them fragile, requiring very specific storage and transport temperatures. The clock is ticking on every sample, so logistics companies face the challenge of being on time and retaining uncompromised quality 100 percent of the time.

Cold chain networks are now a must at every stage of shipment (and even development) and are now fundamental to medical innovation and patient-centric care.

The need for speed

Thanks to the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines, we have seen governments moving quickly to pass policies to accelerate clinical trials and new drug development reviews. To maintain a competitive advantage, how can pharma companies get their treatments from clinical trials to the patient as safely and quickly as possible? 

As trial stages and review times shorten, healthcare companies must have dependable, and adaptable, supply chain processes ready to go. A patient who needs a cancer drug or vaccine just hitting the market can’t wait for weeks while a logistics partner designs a new supply chain. Logistics partners must rapidly adapt and flex existing supply chains.  

Maintaining visibility

The best healthcare logistics partners have evolved their physical supply chain networks into global quality end-to-end digital ones. Their agile and smart platforms offer granular visibility as well as digital data insights that produce control, a consistent experience, and reliable speed.

They’re ready with cold chains and temperature monitoring, and they have GPS location and track-and-trace solutions in place that allow for the re-routing or recovery of highly priced shipments.

It’s not only the fragility of these next-generation products that are driving this change, but also a burgeoning shift to value-based care. Health providers, both public and private, are looking at hospitals less as a physical space and more as a hub that connects the patient from their local pharmacy or their home. This presents an entirely new distribution mechanism for pharmaceutical companies and other healthcare services.

Underpinned by technology, ‘last mile’ deliveries will be increasingly important with kits, samples, treatments, and patient samples coordinated to monitor inventory levels and connect the dots to align the placement of orders and deliveries.

Working with community partners

Importantly, this added control also reaps benefits for companies whose customers, investors, and relevant public authorities are keeping a close eye on their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) goals, focusing on managing complexity, consumption of fuels, and compliance.

It also improves the company’s abilities to engage with new public-private partnership programs which have been spurred by the success of COVID-19 vaccine delivery and an increased focus on the delivery of equitable healthcare. Blending long-term public perspectives and financial resources with private industry’s infrastructure has and will continue to reap benefits and deliver healthcare treatments where they need to be, at the right time and the right temperature.  

Building resilient and reliable connections

Resilient and adaptable supply chains are now more important than ever. They need to be able to adapt to a broad range of risks, from economic and social, to geopolitical, all of which can change at a moment’s notice. Creating and relying upon multi-modal supply chain networks that can pivot on a global scale to meet these needs will be essential.

To avoid these risks, companies are also actively seeking alternative sources closer to home for their drugs and devices. Nearshoring and diversification of supply chains aren’t simply theoretical. They’re happening now. Operations that are closer to home can reduce expenses and complexity. It provides enhanced control over products and the moderation of the financial impact of restrictions on shipping and deliveries. Simply being in the same time zone as production and shipping simplifies business and improves collaboration.

Healthcare companies are also seeing growing competitive issues in India and China’s substantial generic drug industries. Companies are asking whether they want to operate side-by-side with competitors in nations with differing standards of intellectual property protection. 

Looking ahead

A combination of shortened clinical trial cycles, new technologies, next-generation medical innovations, reappraisals of risk tolerance, partnerships, equitable care, and home-based healthcare has set new standards and redefined norms for the industry. A shift in healthcare philosophy underlies these advancements. To achieve and prosper under these new norms, healthcare firms want the same things – control and consistency, and reliable speed, quality, precision, and visibility/tracking.

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