The biopharma supply chain involves a complex set of steps that are required to produce a drug, from sourcing and supply of materials, through manufacturing and distribution, to delivery to the consumer. This forms a golden thread between the discovery of new therapies and patients receiving them.
The need for digital transformation of the biopharma supply chain has never been more pressing. Biopharma supply chains create inherent resilience risks for corporations and governments alike. Supply chains must also meet the expectations of a complex range of stakeholders, comprising multiple payers, health care providers, national and international regulators, and patients with complex and varied needs, both within and across different countries.
Protecting the biopharma supply chains is a high priority for governments, as ensuring access to lifesaving and life-enhancing products is vital for the health and well-being of their populations. Consequently, intelligent and insightful monitoring and management of the supply chain is imperative.
MERCURY and Kanghua has identified four critical areas and processes of the supply chain:
End-to-end visibility
Supply chain visibility means having access to data relating to every transaction and demand trigger, across every step and tier and all the logistics movements in between. The concept can be realised through supply chain control towers that function as centralised hubs that collect information from disparate systems to be used for monitoring, auditing and to generate insights.
Demand forecasting, inventory management and logistics
Accurately adjusted inventory levels are needed if the value of the supply chain is to be unlocked and, importantly, patients are to obtain timely, reliable access to their therapies. Leveraging advanced, intelligent technologies, including predictive analytics, can help track the state of the drugs throughout the supply chain and take proactive and timely interventions when any issue arises.
Optimising predictive maintenance
Business disruption, due to a compliance, quality or safety-related issue, is a common challenge for biopharma companies. This can be minimised using AI-enabled predictive maintenance that provides insights about operations and equipment performance, including forecasting faults or other issues, to improve operational effectiveness, including machine uptime.
Protecting the integrity of the supply chain
Counterfeit or substandard drugs are a problem for the industry, as well as for international health organisations and society in general.However, for biopharma the importance of supply chain integrity goes beyond counterfeit products, as key product types need chain of identity and chain of custody. To tackle this, companies are investing in blockchain and AI technologies to improve security, transparency and traceability.
MERCURY is glad to provide all-in-one consultancy and technology solution for Chengdu Kanghua Biological Company.