The Three Most Critical Product Launch Challenges—and How to Meet Them

Product launches in pharma now occur more frequently and have become smaller in scale. This brings about new challenges where partnering with a 3PL like UPS, can help.

The Three Most Critical Product Launch Challenges in Pharma—and How to Meet Them

New product launches in the pharmaceutical sector aren’t what they used to be. They happen more frequently than in years past, but are often smaller in scale, because they involve “orphan” drugs that address discrete patient populations. The result is a significant set of new logistical challenges, both for smaller companies entering the market and giants accustomed to launches involving thousands of pallets. Three challenges in particular stand out:

1. Scaling High or Low

Pharmaceutical companies have become adept at scaling their logistics operations to handle a small number of successful drugs on an ongoing basis, and they have become very efficient at moving these high pallet counts to their various destinations.   

In today’s market, however, smaller launches are becoming the rule. Drugs that serve orphan patient populations of fewer than 200,000 are not uncommon. As Pat Kenefick of AbbVie stated the situation at the 2016 UPS Healthcare Forum, “One week of manufacturing might now be one year’s worth of inventory.”

Not surprisingly, the massive logistical resources in place to move more popular maintenance drugs are not cost-effective for these specialty drugs. To further complicate matters, as drugs receive approvals for additional indications, rapid scale-up may be required as companies quickly outgrow their low-volume logistics plan.

In sum, high volume/low distribution strategies are no longer appropriate for today’s launches. Fortunately, third-party logistics (3PL) solutions provided by UPS can meet this challenge. Rather than invest in vaults, warehouses, and other infrastructure, which may not be cost-efficient, or build new supply chains to meet changing market conditions, companies should consider outsourcing to third-party logistics providers such as UPS.

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