2010 Pain in the (Supply) Chain Survey

As the Secure Pharma Chain team takes a breather during the Labor Day Holiday, the following is a re-post of a blog from June regarding UPS' study on supply chain issues.

Findings show the industry’s greatest pain points and reveal companies’ plans for the year ahead and beyond. Product Security continues its rise in significance to industry leadership.

UPS, a leading provider of healthcare logistics and transportation services, launched its third annual “Pain in the (Supply) Chain” survey. The survey taken by healthcare supply chain executives, measures concerns about business and supply chain issues in the wake of healthcare reform and other industry changes.

The Survey was conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of UPS and consisted of blind, in-depth telephone interviews with senior-level decision makers at nearly 150 pharmaceutical, biotech and medical/surgical device companies. All of the survey respondents were responsible for supply chain and logistics at their company.

The “Pain” study is an excellent resource as it relates to the most relevant trends and thoughts of the healthcare industry leadership.

The survey key findings are organized by nine key trend areas including Product Security concerns.

Regarding Product Security, the 2010 survey found the following:

• In the nine key trend areas, Product Security is tied with Access to Global or Emerging Markets.

• Product Security ranks as the third largest supply chain issue following Managing Costs and Regulatory Compliance.

• Product Security ranks as the second largest barrier to global expansion.

• 40% of industry respondents are highly concerned about product security, specifically their concerns are:

o 69% cite attempts to counterfeit products

o 60% name product theft as a top challenge

o 53% worry about product diversion

o 50% name theft in transit as a key challenge

The survey confirms the trend that industry leadership is beginning to understand the relevance of the criminal acts, namely theft, fraud, adulteration and counterfeiting impacting product security within the various healthcare supply chains.

Secure Pharma Chain Blog encourages both industry leadership and regulatory agencies to deploy advanced technologies and solutions to combat the various product security challenges cited in the survey.

To view the UPS survey, visit: http://www.ups.com/.

2010 Pain in the (Supply) Chain Survey: Product Security Continues to Be a Major Concern

Findings show the industry’s greatest pain points and reveal companies’ plans for the year ahead and beyond.

UPS, a leading provider of healthcare logistics and transportation services, launched its third annual “Pain in the (Supply) Chain” survey. The survey taken by healthcare supply chain executives, measures concerns about business and supply chain issues in the wake of healthcare reform and other industry changes.

The Survey was conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of UPS and consisted of blind, in-depth telephone interviews with senior-level decision makers at nearly 150 pharmaceutical, biotech and medical/surgical device companies. All of the survey respondents were responsible for supply chain and logistics at their company.

The “Pain” study is an excellent resource as it relates to the most relevant trends and thoughts of the healthcare industry leadership.

The survey key findings are organized by nine key trend areas including Product Security concerns.

Regarding Product Security, the 2010 survey found the following:

• In the nine key trend areas, Product Security is tied with Access to Global or Emerging Markets.

• Product Security ranks as the third largest supply chain issue following Managing Costs and Regulatory Compliance.

• Product Security ranks as the second largest barrier to global expansion.

• 40% of industry respondents are highly concerned about product security, specifically their concerns are:

o 69% cite attempts to counterfeit products
o 60% name product theft as a top challenge
o 53% worry about product diversion
o 50% name theft in transit as a key challenge

The survey confirms the trend that industry leadership is beginning to understand the relevance of the criminal acts, namely theft, fraud, adulteration and counterfeiting impacting product security within the various healthcare supply chains.

Secure Pharma Chain Blog encourages both industry leadership and regulatory agencies to deploy advanced technologies and solutions to combat the various product security challenges cited in the survey.

To view the UPS survey, visit: http://www.ups.com/.

To learn more about pharmaceutical supply chain security solutions, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

UPS Supply Chain Survey: Nearly Half Worry about Product Tampering and Counterfeiting

In UPS’s 2nd Annual Supply Chain Survey, conducted by Harris Interactive, there was a somewhat surprising discovery as it relates to fraudulent and counterfeit products in the supply chain.

The survey was reported in the June 2009 issue of Pharmaceutical Commerce.

In the survey, decision makers at bio-pharma and med device companies were asked a variety of questions to identify supply chain issues beyond simple transportation and delivery.

The somewhat surprising discovery was that 48% of the large company respondents (companies with revenues in excess of $1 billion annually) while 34% of smaller companies, listed product tampering and counterfeiting as one of their biggest supply chain concerns for the year.

Pharmaceutical Commerce is quoted in the June 2009 issue:

It is worth noting that nearly half (48%) of large-company respondents cited product tampering and counterfeiting as a concern, which belies the relatively quieter scene in drug pedigree, tracking and tracing as a result of the postponement of the pedigree rules in California.

This survey validates much of what XStream Systems is finding in the pharmaceutical supply chain as well. Although much of the pressure has been lifted from the delayed pedigree rules, there is a realization among decision makers that there remains a significant amount of stress with few solutions within the supply chain as it relates to fraudulent, tampered and counterfeit product. To date many key executives have seemingly ignored the threat of increased liability and brand erosion because they have few if any solutions to adequately meet the issue. Pedigree and track and trace technologies although mandated in specific states, provides minimal protection against diverted products but do nothing to decrease their liability and protect their inventories from counterfeiting or tampered products.

XStream Systems, with its revolutionary EDXRD technologies, has a technology solution that enhances the ability of the members of the supply chain to authenticate the product, within its sealed container, without destroying or degrading the medication. This solution, allows the user to authenticate and verify the contents of the product, not just the package and properly secure their inventories and overall liability.

To read the June 2009 article in Pharmaceutical Commerce, visit: http://www.pharmaceuticalcommerce.com/frontEnd/main.php?idSeccion=1239.

To learn more about XStream Systems and it solution, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.