Building Resilience Into US Prescription Drug Supply Chains

Because of frequent shortages of medicines including saline, epinephrine, enoxaparin, and adderall, patients and hospitals frequently cannot access the most fundamental and necessary prescription prescriptions. The current COVID-19 epidemic and related geopolitical obstacles have made it even more important to proactively detect and mitigate supply chain vulnerabilities in US pharmaceuticals. Government organisations, academic institutions, think tanks, consulting firms, and other members of the industry have all authored several reports to methodically identify the origins of and proposed solutions to these problems. One of these initiatives was the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's (NASEM) Building Resilience into the Nation's Medical Product Supply Chains, to which the authors of this paper served as authors or consultants. (The report was commissioned in response to the Coronavirus Aid Act being passed by Congress. A resilient supply chain in healthcare is characterized by several key features:

Diversification of suppliers and geographic locations to reduce dependence on a single source of supplies and minimize the impact of disruptions.

Robust risk management strategies that identify potential disruptions and prepare contingency plans.

Effective communication and collaboration across stakeholders to quickly respond to changes in demand and allocate resources efficiently.

Digitalization and use of technology to increase visibility, transparency and control across the supply chain.

A culture of continuous improvement that encourages learning from disruptions and applying those lessons to improve processes and systems.

Flexibility in production, logistics and distribution to adapt to changing conditions and minimize the impact of disruptions.

Strong relationships with suppliers, customers and other stakeholders to ensure mutual support during times of need.