This expectation is placing unprecedented demands on pharma supply chains but the industry will be ready to ensure doses of the vaccine reach patients across the globe safely and securely, and with their integrity intact, says Thorsten Neumann, President & CEO of TAPA’s Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) region. TAPA, the world’s leading supply chain security and resilience association, includes over half of the world’s top 25 pharmaceutical companies in its membership, and Neumann says this reflects the industry’s total commitment to supply chain risk management and loss prevention.
“Ensuring the secure storage, transportation and delivery of every pharmaceutical shipment is of paramount importance to the healthcare industry to ensure patient safety. This explains why pharmaceutical supply chains are among the most resilient of any sector. In terms of cargo security, the true cost of loss of a pharma cargo has been estimated to be between 5-7x the value of the product because of the domino-effect it creates, including wide-scale product recalls, to say nothing of the reputational damage to companies. Product losses are clearly the biggest threat but contamination of pharma cargoes during a cargo crime – even if they are not actually stolen – can be just as damaging.
“In terms of world health, the Covid vaccine represents the biggest supply chain security challenge of our generation because so much is expected from both a public health and economic perspective. It is no coincidence that on the day we saw an announcement about successful vaccine trials, European stock markets soared by 7%, so there’s so much at stake for both the pharma industry and its logistics service providers,” Neumann commented.
