Capturing Value in Pharmaceutical Distribution Strategies

Market Share in the pharmaceutical industry has been dominated by manufacturers that develop the most effective Go-To-Market Strategy. New promises in Cell & Gene Therapy and Personalized Healthcare Products open a wealth of opportunities for new market share in the Asian Pacific region, if manufacturers that can position their supply chain and associated partners effectively from the start. While previous supply chain strategies for pharmaceutical distribution have relied on a single large distributor to manage affiliate level in-country logistics, administration, & payment management services, alternative distribution strategies and partnership schemes may provide greater value to the overall healthcare ecosystem for patient-centric products. To perform a proper evaluation of the potential value a novel distribution strategy could deliver to the manufacturer, patients, and healthcare system, a Multi Attribute Value Analysis (MAVA) Model was created for two use case countries. The alternatives under consideration were a traditional distributor strategy, a switch to a multiple-partner strategy to handle different components of the CGT/PHC supply chain flows, and a switch to an in-house management strategy with the manufacturer handling the majority of the distribution roles. The criteria chosen for the MAVA model evaluation included financial, logistics, and patient factors that aimed to capture a holistic view of the distributor’s performance. Value functions mapping a criteria’s rating to a normalized score were determined, and weight importance assignment was elicited from key stakeholders. Upon generating data for the initial MAVA model run, the total value a distributor could provide was determined by the model. For the new personalized healthcare product segment, it was found the multi-partnership strategy provided the best overall value in both use cases countries (with a final score of , primarily due to better performance in critical Inventory Management and Patient Engagement KPIs. From this study, it is evident that considering the market structure and pharmaceutical regulations of individual countries helps pharmaceutical companies tailor supply chain strategies to each country’s context to maximize patient satisfaction, resource mobilization and cost optimization