Future challenges for pharmaceutical supply chains

The pharmaceutical industry is facing an era of fundamental transformation, with new products, markets, and regulations requiring changes to governance, risk and supply chain management. These represent both threats and opportunities to the industry, for those who are able to harness developments. Through the provision of example scenarios, this report aims to provide pharmaceutical supply chain managers with the necessary information to help them find the right strategic solutions for their companies over the next ten years. Based on a thorough review of current practical and academic literature, the research team identified twelve future key developments with the potential to impact pharmaceutical supply chains over the next ten years (2015-2025). Based on assessments by 30 European pharmaceutical managers, the report provides analysis of the probability and impact of each development on pharmaceutical supply chains. It scopes the extent to which pharmaceutical supply chain managers welcome and feel able to influence each development. The authors of the report are Prof. Dr. Constantin Blome, University of Sussex, UK and GSK Vaccines Chaired Professor at Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium, as well as Martin Schleper and Hannes Hofmann from EBS University, Germany.