The Life-Sciences Industry faces fragmented demand chains
and tough regulatory barriers. A recurring problem faced by biotech
companies is an aging product portfolio which slows profits and thus requires
the organization to constantly innovate and renovate the product line.
Therefore, industry members are turning to third party
operators at all levels of the supply chain to reduce costs, satisfy local
demand, and enhance capacity flexibility. These companies are adding to their
pipeline by adopting process improvements and newer technologies targeted at improving
collaboration and increasing productivity.
However, the flip side to this worldwide scale of
collaborative operations with third parties which has made supply chains globally
dispersed and virtual in nature is huge. Many owners have limited access and visibility
to the supply chain from end-to-end and who must rely heavily on local
contractors operating in great measure without close supervision. Further, the
emergence of biologics and specialist therapies, is hampered by environmental
conditions and their immense value to counterfeiters and competitors.
A few emerging threats that need to solved are product
contamination, counterfeiting, intellectual property theft and product
diversion. Globalization is inevitable but the industry needs to mitigate risk
by tackling these issues and streamlining R&D processes and supply chains.
This report highlights potential vulnerabilities in
global supply chains and is an intriguing read. It discusses the fundamental
question of how globalization can impact new product development and supply
chain designs especially in life sciences industry where the product life cycle is so lengthy.
Source: ‘Globalization of the Life Sciences Supply
Chain’ by Wynn Bailey, PwC, January/February 2011 (retrieved from Contract
Pharma)
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