Innovation
Ensuring pharmaceutical supply chain effectiveness
The pharmaceutical and biotech industry is under severe pressure. R&D costs are spiralling, development timelines are growing, payer pushback is increasing and consumers are becoming increasingly knowledgeable about care options. The industry is responding driving time out of development, becoming smarter about stopping projects early in the development cycle, and increasing efficiency through rationalisation or outsourcing of non-core activities.
As scientific advances enable the industry to move from a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to care, to one of segmentation, personalisation and wellness, so the supply chain will need to evolve. The supply chain of the future will be built around flexibility, responsiveness and reliability shifting the supply paradigm from a stock-based model to an order-based model.
Since structural changes to the supply chain model will have tax implications, it is imperative that organisations carefully balance operational and financial efficiencies when designing supply chains. Manufacturing operations continue to invest in new technologies targeting cost savings and flexibility, to address historically inefficient, low yield batch processes, with inconsistent quality outcomes.
Many pharmaceutical companies are considering transitioning non-core manufacturing from traditional strong-holds in Ireland, Puerto Rico and Singapore to the emerging markets of China and India. But such uses of external supply networks will require companies to employ new and more evolved tools of virtual supply chain management – from operations to finance to tax planning.
How PwC can help you
PwC’s offers a wide array of industry-focussed supply chain management services that address the challenges facing pharmaceutical and healthcare products companies, including:
- Technology transfer
Tax effiency - Sustainability
- Asset management
- Security of supply
- Virtual models
- Complexity management (process and product)
- Cost management and working capital reduction
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