Creating a shortlist of new suppliers to get an edge
When searching through Pharma Footpath for a product you may not have sourced very often, or even entirely new, you can sometimes find that a suprising price in a market you don't have strong relationships. What then?
Using the EU WDA License tool in Pharma Footpath gives you chance to review who has licenses in different markets, and the conditions on their licenses!
Search WDA licenses in Pharma Footpath
Let's imagine you need a cold chain product, and you've seen the list price information in Greece suggests this might be a good market to speak to suppliers. It's not a market you've strong relationships with, so you're looking for all options. By applying a couple of simple filters, you can select all WDA license holders in Greece who have both 'cold chain' as a license condition, as well as 'export'.
Select license conditions in dropdown
In which case, you only have 48 WDA license holders that meet these conditions. Some of these may be irrelevant, logistics providers for example, and now you're left with a shortlist of companies to evaluate and see whether there are potential new partners.
This may take a little bit of time to evaluate, but this time invested expands your network and can reveal some opportunities that competitors haven't taken the time to explore!
If you'd like to discuss more about the information in WDA licenses, or how we can use data to enhance your business, please reply to this email and let's discuss!
Some markets are more difficult to gather detailed information from, and the Italian market falls in that category. That means that when we do run analytics on the market, it's important to share!
- 1,482 parallel trade licenses have been granted to bring stock into Italy, though 248 are no longer commercialised.
- 17 different companies hold these licenses. GMM Farma being the biggest with 269 licenses approved, including 24 licenses granted in 2024.
- Bayer's oral contraceptive Yasmin is the most contested parallel import product, with 12 different companies holding PI licenses for this.
- Of the 223 different products imported (that is, excluding different strengths and pack size variations), 67 are held by a single company without competition.
- In line with the wider PI industry, the number of licenses granted per quarter has increased steadily over the last 10 years. From an average of 9.75 licenses per quarter in 2013, to 48 per quarter in 2023.
Italian Parallel Import licenses granted per quarter since 2014
The rise in competition for parallel import products, and the growth in the industry more broadly, has resulted in companies looking for a new 'edge' that allows them to compete more effectively. Pharma Footpath has been working with parallel import companies to identify new opportunities before others, and track competition more effectively.
If you're interested in seeing what data analytics we can provide for your business, you can reply to this message and let me know what you're keen to learn more about!
As Pharma Footpath develops its databases, we're able to quickly drill down into the commercial opportunities. Where I think this is most interesting currently is in looking at renegotiated prices in different markets, and taking advantage of these before others do.
Examples of this include:
- 50% reduction in price for Australian Xolair PFS, bringing this below EU market. Valuable for the 54 clinical trials globally, and for the wider number of trading opportunities that come from these English language packs
- The centrally authorised product Pradaxa has had over 300 parallel trade licenses granted, and is listed in 65 clinical trials globally. A recent price reduction of over 20% in Hungary makes this an import area to review
It's clear from the data that when price changes occur, they don't happen in a synchronized fashion. That creates opportunities for finding the markets that have the earliest price movement, but also acts as a warning to companies about committing to purchasing product that may be about to undergo significant market changes (Revlimid is a prime example in Europe!)
If you'd like to talk more about these points, please get in touch! I'm always keen to talk more about the insights we're finding, and what we can build from it to make your business win more.
The Netherlands has been the biggest trading market in Europe that PharmaFootpath had yet to include. I'm pleased to share we've now included the centralised product pricing, national product registrations will follow in the near future.
Adding a new country to our data takes some time as we have a number of steps to go through to ensure we have data integrity:
Agree data source for country (for example, we have an agreement with government in Germany to transfer data every 2 weeks)
Review data, isolating the data required for our database and identify any gaps
Translate the various APIs, presentations, routes, weights, and other data
Restructure data to match our schema
Run quality checks to ensure compliance with our standards, investigate each failure and resolve
Import data
This process is time consuming, and filled with complex edge cases, and often the origin data itself has mistakes included that we need to investigate. However, when we finish this, the end result is a well structured database that provides us with a valuable dataset that we can quickly interrogate and find new information.
I'm delighted we're continuing to add to this, and getting closer to our goals!
Phil
(If you've any questions about this, please feel free to message me to learn more!)
Using Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Data to Build Resiliency in Europe
European countries are increasingly embracing the strategic use of Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Data to create resilient healthcare systems that can meet ongoing challenges.
Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Data provides valuable insights into stock levels and enables better decision-making regarding procurement, storage, distribution, and waste management.
By leveraging this data, European countries can strengthen their healthcare infrastructure to ensure sustainable access to essential medicines and other medical supplies.
In this article, we discuss the potential of Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Data to build resilience in Europe.
The current state of the pharmaceutical supply chain in Europe
The pharmaceutical supply chain in Europe is facing disruption due to several interwoven factors beyond the control of pharmaceutical companies.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused tremendous upheaval throughout the pharmaceutical supply chain, creating challenges that affect the entire pharma supply chain from manufacturing to distribution.
In addition, border closings and other bureaucratic challenges have led to shipping delays and long queues at borders, which can significantly disrupt the pharmaceutical supply chain within Europe.
As pharmaceuticals are essential products that demand reliable delivery, a disruption in the pharmaceutical supply chain isn't just an inconvenience, it could lead to a health crisis.
Companies need to take this risk seriously and develop comprehensive solutions to make sure their pharmaceutical supply chains are stable even when outside forces disrupt them.
The pharma industry in Europe has had to adapt swiftly due to global health events, adding strain and complexity to the pharma supply chain.
With this new reality, pharma companies need to make sure that their supply chain is as resilient as possible.
Various potential disruptions can occur within the pharma supply chain, such as unpredictable demand shifts, interruption of essential services from suppliers, pandemic-related shortages, or delays in logistics infrastructure.
To combat these risks pharma companies must reassess their current supply chains, identify potential vulnerabilities, determine the necessary steps for resilience, and then allocate resources strategically for successful implementation.
It's clear that for pharma companies to remain competitive in a disrupted atmosphere they must take proactive steps in securing their pharma supply chain against any type of disruption.
The benefits of data-driven resiliency planning
Resiliency planning is an essential part of supply chain management, especially for cold chain companies operating within the pharmaceutical industry.
Data-driven resiliency planning can help predict risks and vulnerabilities along the supply chain before they manifest, meaning fewer drug shortages and supply interruptions in the future.
In addition to reducing disruptions and safeguarding supply lines for vital medications, data-driven resiliency plans can also provide insights into improving supply chain efficiencies from production to delivery.
When combined with predictive analytics, cold chain companies and other organizations in this critical sector benefit from a more flexible, adaptive approach that helps protect against unprecedented events.
Data-driven resiliency planning is incredibly important in supply chain management, particularly with the current supply chain shocks faced by global pharmaceutical supply during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through data collection, analysis and assessment of supply chain risks, companies can identify potential disruptions and plan precisely for discrepancies in supply and demand.
When dealing with supply chains, valuable resources such as money and time can be saved by spotting issues ahead of time and proactively taking steps to avoid them.
With data-driven resiliency planning, these issues are managed more efficiently through informed decision-making derived from evidence-based strategies.
This helps companies save on costs while allowing them to respond more quickly to supply chain problems.
Ultimately, data-driven resiliency planning is invaluable for managing supply chains and ensuring supply continuity in the face of potential supply shocks.
Using data to identify and prevent disruptions
Today, supply chain disruption has become an increasingly common problem in the pharma industry.
From supply shortages to ordering errors and contamination issues, these disruptions can have a devastating impact on pharmacies and patients alike.
To identify and prevent supply chain disruption before it starts, more and more companies are turning to digital supply chains.
From warehouse tracking systems to predictive analytics that can spot outliers before they become a widespread issue, they help provide insight into inventory management so supply chain professionals can adjust processes on a proactive basis.
By combining the right data insights with meaningful supply chain tools, pharma companies can effectively prevent supply chain disruption problems before they occur.
As we continue to grapple with supply chain disruption in the pharmaceutical supply chain, it is essential to turn to data-driven solutions for prevention.
Demand planning and digital supply chain management offer viable options when seeking to reduce disruption.
With demand planning, real-time analytics can be used to identify supply shortages and find the most efficient supply sources at any given time.
Digital supply chain initiatives aim to develop technology that monitors drug supply levels and inventory availability across the entire network of suppliers, distributors, and wholesalers.
Though these solutions require specialized expertise and substantial investments, they are necessary to ensure a secure supply chain with high-quality products available promptly.
Mitigating the impact of disruptions when they occur
To mitigate the impact of supply chain disruptions when they occur, supply chain leaders are increasingly turning to digital supply chains.
By using technology such as cloud-enabled platforms, data analytics, and RFID tags, supply chain teams can get visibility into every point along the supply chain journey.
This enables them to detect any potential supply chain disruptions early on and put contingency plans in place quickly to reduce their impact.
Ultimately this helps improve supply chain agility, which is critical for businesses that want to succeed in today’s rapidly changing market conditions.
To minimize the impact of supply chain disruptions, businesses need to develop supply chain resilience.
Establishing a supply chain tracking system can help with this; it allows for the monitoring of every stage of the supply chain so that organizations can be aware of where their inventory is located and anticipate any potential supply delays or shortages.
Additionally, communication between supply chain partners, from suppliers to distributors and retailers is essential for supply chain success; when everyone understands what's going on, supply problems can be addressed more quickly.
By proactively investing in supply chain resilience and focusing on strong communication between supply chain partners, companies can increase their chances of mitigating disruption and minimizing its impact when they occur.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the need for Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Data is ever-growing to build resiliency in Europe.
Digital supply chain initiatives, demand planning, and data analytics are all powerful tools that can help prevent supply chain disruption problems before they occur.
Additionally, communication between supply chain partners is essential for mitigating the impact of disruptions when they do happen, as well as developing a more resilient supply chain overall.
By leveraging Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Data, European companies can ensure their success and enable them to compete on a global scale.
