New markets for pharma bring supply-chain worries

With counterfeiting and theft in the news regularly, it's no wonder that management's worried about securing the supply chain. And now that so many drug companies are intent upon expanding globally, those security worries have stepped to the fore.

That's one message from the annual UPS supply chain survey, which focused on supply-chain managers in large healthcare and pharma companies. Almost half of them said their companies plan to expand into emerging countries in the next 18 months--and 40 percent said they're concerned about that move. That's a 22 percent increase over last year.

One-third blamed those growing worries on security. That's understandable, UPS Healthcare Logistics director John Menna told Pharmaceutical Commerce. As companies have expanded into new markets lately, they're realizing how prevalent counterfeiting and theft can be. "We think this will translate into logistics providers offering complete or near-complete solutions for theft and counterfeiting," Menna said. "[T]hese issues have to be addressed."

- check out the coverage at Procurement Leaders
- see the Pharma Commerce story
- get the PharmTech piece

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