After 14 years of managing pharmaceutical logistics exclusively in CIS and Eastern European markets, Mark Woolf, COO of COREX, has seen the same misconceptions trip up Western pharma companies time and again.
Shutterstock - Jakub Krechowicz
What are the biggest misconceptions Western pharma companies have about Eastern European and CIS logistics?
There are three major ones that come up constantly.
First, everyone assumes it's cheaper. It's not. Logistics costs in these regions are comparable to Western Europe, and often more expensive. Why? Distances are enormous. Getting shipments into CIS countries takes time, requires specific expertise, and the infrastructure challenges mean you can't cut corners on quality.
Second misconception: it's easy to communicate. Now, I'm not talking about literally picking up a phone – people answer calls just fine. I'm talking about comprehension and cultural expectations. If your communication is based on assumptions rather than specifics, you'll be very disappointed. Western companies tend to operate on implied understanding. In CIS markets, if something isn't explicitly discussed and documented, expectations won't be met. You need to be extraordinarily specific about what you want to achieve.
The third major misconception is that there are lots of alternatives. There aren't. Take Georgia, for example – it's a country of 4 million people. There's only a certain number of logistics companies available, and they don't necessarily operate to the same standards Western companies expect. Many Western firms are ISO-certified with universal software systems. In CIS countries, you'll find different standards. They're similar, but different enough that expectations fall apart when one side says 'well, I do it this way' and it comes as a complete surprise to the other.
Can you give a real example of where companies get it wrong?
Companies constantly underestimate geography. CIS countries are enormous. Shipping from one major city to an internal region can take three days, and clients say 'I thought it was just next door.' Even between two major cities, you're looking at a day and a half to two days transit time.
This isn't like the US or Western Europe where domestic flights depart every few minutes. You don't have the same density of air services. There's less competition
amongst airlines, which means fewer flights, less cargo capacity, and longer lead times. Western sponsors expect next-day delivery and are genuinely shocked when that's not possible.
Then there's weather. In winter, everything slows down. We're talking minus 30 to minus 40 degrees. Airports stay open even in horrific conditions, but our temperature-controlled shipping systems – bought from the same manufacturers used in Europe and the US – still get impacted by extreme cold. In summer, you've got plus 40 degrees.
The problem is perception. Western companies look at these countries like holiday destinations and assume 'my shipment will be fine.' But we're talking about the industrial side of these countries, not the tourist postcards. The operational reality is very different.
What should pharma companies be doing differently from day one?
Set expectations in writing. Every single time.
I see this constantly, regardless of which company I work with. Someone has a conversation where they're told something is 'relatively easy,' then they get the documents and discover it's far more complex than expected. Timelines get pushed out. Costs increase. Why? Because nobody sat down on day one and said: what do I actually need? What's the complete list of documents required? What are realistic timelines?
These aren't exotic requests – they're basic project planning. But they don't happen, and that's where projects go sideways.
On the compliance side, what regulatory mistakes do you see repeatedly?
Documentation errors are the most common. Pricing information on commercial documents needs to be absolutely correct. Then there are the expected regulatory documents – Certificate of Analysis, Certificate of Origin, and various country-specific requirements. Companies somehow expect these to be optional or assume they can be provided later. They can't.
Timeline expectations are another huge issue. If a regulatory authority says 30 days, it means 30 days. Not 29, not 31. The application sits in a queue for 29 days, and on day 30, someone processes it because that's what the procedure says to do.
I'm not being critical of our Eastern European or Asian colleagues here – I've just spent two months in the Philippines, and when they say Friday, they mean Friday. Not Thursday afternoon. When you ask 'when on Friday,' they say Friday, meaning somewhere between 08:30 and 16:30. Does that mean you'll get your document Friday? No – it'll be processed Friday for Monday.
This is the compliance reality. Western sponsors think they'll get what they want on their timeline. They won't, unless they plan accordingly.
How do companies make false trade-offs between cost and quality?
Everyone knows intellectually that shortcuts don't work, but they try them anyway. Companies look at the cost and say 'I want all this quality but at a lower price.' Unfortunately, the maths doesn't work like that.
If you use an unvalidated, non-qualified courier, if you introduce multiple steps into your process because each one is individually cheaper, your quality disappears very quickly. I'll use an online shopping analogy: you see something really cheap, order it, it arrives, and it's not what you expected. Whose fault is that? Everyone blames the vendor, but actually, you didn't do your research. You didn't read the product description properly. You chose the wrong options, and that's what you got.
In pharmaceutical logistics, those mistakes can delay clinical trials or compromise patient safety. It's far better to have everything under one umbrella with a single qualified provider. Yes, costs are negotiable. Quality isn't.
Anything heavily discounted, as far as I'm concerned, is either out of date or not fit for purpose.
What's your advice for pharma companies entering these markets for the first time?
Find a partner who actually operates in these countries – not someone who's trying to figure it out alongside you. You need boots on the ground, established regulatory relationships, and deep understanding of local operating environments.
Don't assume what works in Western Europe will work in CIS markets. Different regulatory frameworks, different cultural expectations, different infrastructure challenges. What works is detailed planning, written agreements, realistic timelines, and a partner who knows how to navigate these complexities.
And perhaps most importantly: listen when local experts tell you something takes longer or costs more than you expected. They're not inflating timelines or padding costs – they're telling you the operational reality. The companies that succeed in these markets are the ones who plan for that reality rather than fight against it.