Pharmaceutical companies must excel at many disciplines: research and innovation, production, sales, and marketing. At the same time, the competitive and regulatory intensity has increased significantly, with a much stronger focus on profitability. All of this is putting new demands on the supply chain function, which now more than ever is required to support the business. In this new context, several important themes are key:
• Serialization and the need to satisfy demanding lot traceability and other quality requirements
• High service levels, yet completely different manufacturing and supply chain strategies, for prescription versus over-the-counter products and generic versus patented drugs
• Increasing reliance on external partners such as contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs)
