Clinical supplies & logistics Seeking value in O
ver the years, the growth in counterfeit medicines in the supply chain has been a tangible threat, not only to patient safety, but also the profitability of pharmaceutical companies. According to a report by Statista in 2020, the market for counterfeit prescription medicines resulted in a loss of $200bn to the industry. That kind of financial loss, the report notes, may prevent as many as 13 new drugs from coming to market each year. Furthermore, the US National Crime Prevention Council estimated in 2021 that more than 10% of all pharmaceuticals in the global supply chain are counterfeit. One of the key weapons in the fight against fake drugs is
The concept of serialisation was primarily a response to the counterfeit drug challenge of the early 2000s. Though technological advances and regulatory development never fully resolved this problem, the tools pharmaceutical companies employed have delivered value in other areas, and serialisation can do more than simply appease the regulators. Jim Banks speaks to Courtney Soulsby, global
director, healthcare sector at British Standards Institution (BSI) to find out how pharma companies can leverage serialisation to extract business value.
serialisation, which requires the placement of unique markings – principally batch and lot numbers – on primary packaging. This provides the visibility to highlight the presence of counterfeit drugs or the diversion of real medicines from their intended destination. Whether they are in the form of barcodes or radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags, these markings can localise a specific item along its passage through the global supply chain. “I’m a supply chain traceability expert, so I understand how to leverage serialisation, and I agree the driver was to achieve visibility into where medicines go and, as a side benefit, to allow companies
serialisation
26
Clinical Trials Insight /
www.worldpharmaceuticals.net
olesia_g/
Shutterstock.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53
