Outsourcing Reimagine the pharma supply chain
Using IoT technology to transform pharma supply chains, companies are reaping significant benefits in terms of efficiency, quality, sustainability, scalability. The payback and the potential gains for the clinical trial sector are significant. Controlant is one such company helping its clients to capitalise on the situation.
T
he onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent pressure to fast- track clinical trials presented some key challenges for this sector. Clinical trials are especially sensitive to procurement hiccups, typically involving more vendors. Obtaining all the right materials to continue producing established medicines and vaccines is challenging enough when a pandemic leads to bottlenecks in supply and obtaining them for clinical trials only adds to that challenge.
Pandemic pains
Broadly speaking, the pandemic-driven challenges have been fourfold in clinical trials: the bottleneck in supply; the urgent need for the most accelerated series of clinical trials the world has seen; the forced decentralisation of clinical trials, given travel restrictions on participants; and the sudden and dramatic rise in demand for medical professionals and supplies, with hospitals inundated with patients, and with medical professionals among those patients.
importance of a reliable supply chain had never been clearer.
Real-time visibility As one of the world’s most heavily regulated industries, the pharma industry overall has been slow to adapt to Industry 4.0. Audit trails span numerous validation systems and incorporate webs of ISO standards, SOPs, and GxP requirements, and the regulatory environment differs from country to country, making it more complicated to digitalise on a global scale. In this environment, real-time visibility is a crucial capability for agile pharma supply chains. While data is still key, knowledge doesn’t help anyone if it can’t be acted upon in a timely manner. IoT technology and predictive analytics enable pharmaceutical companies today to use the ever-growing amount of data to make decisions instantly and to act immediately or even automatically.
The stakes are high
The rules around vaccine approval were stretched to enable emergency approval ahead of the typical conclusion of a clinical
“While the world watched, waited, and finally queued for their vaccines, clinical trial operators also needed to make sure their ongoing assessment of all kinds of other treatments could continue despite the disruption.”
While the world watched, waited, and finally queued for their vaccines, clinical trial operators also needed to make sure their ongoing assessment of all kinds of other treatments could continue despite the disruption. The
Clinical Trials Insight /
www.worldpharmaceuticals.net
trial, but the pharma industry is heavily regulated for good reason, with products that can literally be a matter of life or death. Quality is paramount. This is also why data integrity is critical and digitalisation of the pharmaceutical industry is so important.
This is a game changer for world health outcomes. Looking at global vaccine distribution alone, prior to 2020 an estimated 25–50% of vaccines were wasted each year due to broken cold chains. The intense pressure on the sector since 2020 has shone a spotlight on the industry frontrunners who are relatively ahead in digitalisation. For those monitoring their supply chain with real-time visibility, Covid-19 vaccine producers have achieved success rates close to 100%.
Digitalisation is the only way forward
The huge saving in waste is reason enough for pharmaceutical and supply chain leaders to invest heavily in digital transformation, and there are many other significant benefits. Being certain of data integrity in real time makes it easier to build flexibility into stability budgets, for example, and helps prevent parallel imports and other fraudulent activities.
For clinical trials to become more decentralised, to enable more direct-to- patient processes, and to achieve end-to- end, real-time visibility, the pharma industry needs highly digitalised, automated processes. Controlant provides pharmaceutical companies with real-time visibility and valuable insights that make their supply chains more agile and resilient. Controlant’s IoT device-enabled SaaS platform is built forpharma, helping customers enhance the efficiency, reliability, and sustainability of their operations and giving them peace of mind. ●
www.controlant.com 33
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