Say no to one-size-fits-all model
A proper tax structure meticulous planning and a customized approach will be an effective manner to outdo the bottlenecks in the pharma supply chain. An analysis.
March 13, 2012 / 11:04 IST
Hitesh Gajaria
The pharma supply chain is inherently different in its organisation and composition compared to other industries. The major difference is that for the pharma business, the pricing for each end-user is different. Therefore, a hospital purchases drugs at lower rates than a retail pharmacy. There are programmes like Medicare and Medicaid and other insurance programmes where procurement prices are different from what they are for a customer purchasing at a retail outlet. These nuances give a completely different angle to Supply Chain Management (SCM). The pharma industry is under severe pressure with increasing R&D costs, growing development timelines, increasing payer pushback and a more knowledgeable customer. The industry is responding by cutting down on development time, stopping projects that do not seem promising at the right time and increasing efficiency by outsourcing non-core activities. Therefore an effective SCM is a concern, as the consequences of a faulty start in launching new products may lead to loss in revenue, sale and market share. It may also result in high cost of logistics, high cost of expired drugs, excess inventory at various points in the supply chain, excessive expiry and unliquidated pipeline inventory. Growth prospects
An ideal situation would be to move from a
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