Strategies to Modernize, Future-Proof, and Secure the Healthcare Supply Chain

In today’s healthcare landscape, groundbreaking treatments such as cell and gene therapies, mRNA vaccines, and GLP-1 drugs are transforming patient care. At the same time, essential medications remain vital for treating a wide range of conditions. Ensuring these treatments reach patients safely and efficiently is crucial—and can be accomplished by modernizing, future-proofing, and securing the healthcare supply chain.

Supply chain modernization

We envision the supply chain of the future as an interconnected network of both physical and digital assets, not merely a series of transactions. Modernizing our supply chain is key for enhancing efficiency, visibility, and infrastructure. In recent years, we have embraced digital enablement to optimize our operations by integrating artificial intelligence and machine learning across our healthcare ecosystem. This has allowed us to optimize logistics, including transportation routes and delivery schedules, thereby reducing costs and improving efficiency. The goal is to ensure that our supply chain remains efficient and adaptable to future challenges.

Future-proofing

In the everchanging pharmaceutical landscape, the advancement of medical treatments, including drugs for rare diseases and specialty therapies, offers great promise and hope. It’s vital that our supply chain provide these crucial therapies safely and efficiently.

Specialty therapies often require specific conditions, such as temperature control and light protection, necessitating robust infrastructure and meticulous management. Additionally, many new medicines have shorter shelf lives, requiring precise inventory management to prevent stockouts and expirations, so in order to meet this growing demand, we encourage stakeholder to consider expanding cold chain storage, infrastructure, and quality controls.

Drug security

The commitment to those we serve drives us to uphold stringent safety and security standards, maintaining a rigorous chain of custody from manufacturer to patient. The Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) is designed to protect US consumers by securing the supply chain against counterfeit, contaminated, or harmful drugs through electronic traceability mandates. Over the past decade, we have actively engaged in industry readiness for DSCSA serialization compliance, and we continue to advance our preparedness as we near the May 27 compliance deadline for wholesale distributors.

The industry has developed and implemented various track-and-trace technologies to comply with the DSCSA and to enhance the security and integrity of the pharmaceutical supply chain. These technologies include serialization, which assigns unique identifiers to prescription drug packages, and real-time tracking, allowing continuous monitoring of product location and status.

Together, these innovations provide comprehensive visibility and control, safeguarding against counterfeit drugs and maintaining product integrity.

About the Author

Ammie McAsey is SVP of Customer Distribution Experience at McKesson.