BlogsLeveraging Data for Pharma Supply Chain Optimization

November 22, 2021by Shashiraja
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The pharmaceutical industry is growing tremendously on a global level. Over the last few years, investments in pharma analytics have increased because of the need and advancements in technology. Industry 4.0 has revolutionized the way data powers pharmaceutical manufacturing and supply chain processes.

The distribution ecosystem in the pharmaceutical industry is complex and demands careful planning and teamwork. In this highly competitive industry, companies look forward to cutting costs while maintaining the high-quality standards of their products to build a competitive edge. The distribution process begins with the pharmaceutical manufacturers. Next, wholesalers distribute pharmaceutical products to pharmacies, hospitals, and institutions while maintaining inventory for retailers to offer medical supplies to the customers.

Challenges in the pharmaceutical supply chain

Pharmaceutical distributors and wholesalers play a crucial role in connecting drug manufacturers, pharmacies, hospitals, and other pharmaceutical institutions. There is a complexity of relations between the manufacturers, the distributors, and the customers. Here are some challenges in the pharmaceutical supply chain:

  • Complying with regulations: Distributors face continuous challenges. They have to comply with the ever-evolving new regulations governing distribution and drug production. These regulations aim to trace all sorts of prescription drugs as they pass through the supply chain. Distributors have to face scrutiny on controlled substances and product safety from drug regulators. Additionally, the pharmaceutical supply chain has to observe good distribution practices, which may change.
  • Weak IT infrastructure: Investment in IT infrastructure in the pharmaceutical industry is less. The current challenge in the supply chain system is that it is outdated, which makes it difficult for pharmacies, distributors, and hospitals that need access to medication in emergencies.
  • Checking drug prices: Another challenge distributors face in the pharmaceutical supply chain system is the high cost of healthcare. As a result, the distributors are under constant pressure to supply affordable pharmaceutical products and ensure their profit increases while the price stays down.
  • Demand and stock balance: In the event of a medicine shortage, it is difficult to identify and locate patients that need a crucial drug at a specific time. However, with the application of data and artificial intelligence at every step of the supply chain, disruptions can be mitigated before they happen. On the other hand, drug stocking becomes an issue if no one buys it. As no pharmaceutical company can predict what they can sell, finding the right balance between stock-keeping units and purchase order management becomes challenging.
  • Better customer service expectations: Sometimes, the pharmaceutical distribution system fails to consider patients’ expectations from suppliers when it comes to customer service quality, like delivery locations, the delivery time of medications, etc.
  • Expensive setup: Pharmaceutical supply chain processes are costly to set up. These processes are time-consuming, and sometimes, it is hard to achieve positive results, especially for start-ups or small pharmaceutical companies.

Leverage data for pharmaceutical supply chain optimization

As the pharmaceutical supply chain covers every aspect of the product life cycle, modern technologies offer valuable data. There are many advantages of an integrated supply chain that are useful to pharmaceutical companies, suppliers, healthcare providers, and patients. With the help of the latest technologies and data, the integrated system can be used for varied purposes.

  • Smart prices of pharmaceutical products: With the help of data science, pharmaceutical companies and distributors can gather data of patients and can predict whether a patient can afford their medication or not. The data can give insight into patients’ prescription medicine pricing information and insurance plans. The distribution team can identify patients who cannot afford care and medicine using this data while ensuring regulatory compliance. Data analytics can help pharmaceutical companies to analyze their data and tailor their pricing and distribution strategy as per compliance requirements.
  • Real-time sales and stock movement visibility: In this digital age, with the help of a robust digital supply chain system, pharmaceutical companies, and distributors can have complete visibility of primary, secondary, and tertiary sales as well as data related to stock. Digitization helps companies to optimize resources and manage high demands for pharmaceutical products. It simplifies the sales processes, increases sales visibility, and tracks stock movement in real time till the product is bought by the end customer. In addition, it provides seamless visibility of the processes and stocks across multiple channels for easier tracking of sales activity to gauge performance.
  • Data-driven decisions: The new technologies are intelligent and can manage the production planning, supply chain, logistics, and distribution network seamlessly. In addition, the information gathered through all the processes can help organizations to make better data-driven decisions.

How AI/ML is bridging the digital and physical gap in the supply chain?

Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and other intelligent technologies can easily integrate with other devices or systems used by the pharmaceutical organization and its stakeholders. The real-time data obtained from these devices helps to avoid manual intervention. Data and technologies can help in the efficient optimization of inventory, compliance, and visibility and offer great flexibility to adapt to the ever-changing dynamics of the competitive market.

Digitization has the potential to change pharmaceutical companies and address related challenges. Pharmaceutical companies can improve operations with the help of emerging technologies. Today, pharmaceutical supply chains are becoming vital and intricate. Leveraging data has helped develop and manufacture vaccinations and life-saving drugs at record-breaking speeds by moving complex supply chains to aid in the crisis.

Leveraging data and analytics in the pharmaceutical supply chain has enabled cost savings, improved customer service, increased operational efficiencies, etc. for pharmaceutical companies.

Talk to our experts and learn how you can leverage the power of data to optimize your supply chain.

About DforD

Data for Decisions Technology Solutions Pvt. Ltd. is a cloud platform integrated with the supply chain ecosystem to provide Transparency, Efficiency, Counterfeit Detection and Reporting for Manufacturers, Distributors, Retailers and Consumers. It is simple and user friendly to adopt and use.

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