LogiPharma meeting highlights digital transformation

The traditional view of supply chain management in life sciences emphasizes fundamentals: optimizing supply chain performance, managing inventory, and controlling risk. These are topics that show up at almost any supply chain or logistics meeting. The “special” factors in life sciences supply chains include multiparty supply chain networks (from API sources, through contract manufacturing services, to outbound logistics); the cold chain for biologics and other temperature-sensitive materials; and the drive toward personalized medicine, both in the context of individualized therapies (think cellular therapy) and delivery to the patient’s home, rather than a retail pharmacy or a hospital.

Both views of the life sciences supply chain will be apparent at this year’s LogiPharma meeting, sponsored by World Business Research and scheduled for Oct. 4–6 in Philadelphia, PA. Traditionally, the meeting brings together supply chain managers across a spectrum of life sciences companies, plus the logistics providers that specialize in pharma distribution.

Presentations and panel discussions include topics on supply chain optimization; advanced demand planning, inventory control, and air vs. ocean transportation. Some of the more intriguing topics:

• Reverse globalization, aka reshoring, as the UK contemplates leaving the EU, and the US reassesses international trade policies
• The “parcelization” of pharma logistics, as many therapies move from bulk delivery of pharmaceuticals to parcels shipped to clinics or the patient’s homes
• Pharmaceutical deliveries to health systems, as integrated delivery networks (IDNs) and other healthcare assemblages move more deeply into drug dispensing
• Reuse of cold chain packaging, as two speakers representing temperature-controlled packaging vendors assess the impact of reuse in packaging, and the lease/buy question in those packages
• Data-driven risk management in airfreight, made possible by performing lane assessments with historical data
• Serialization and its impact on counterfeiting prevention and supply chain tracking
• Supply chain integration in an M&A environment
• Supply chain management for small- to mid-size pharma.

Nineteen companies, ranging from contract packagers to third-party logistics providers, software vendors and trade networks, are sponsors of the event.

The meeting features a cocktail hour and casino night on the evening of its first day, multiple speaker tracks, and a variety of workshops. Pharmaceutical Commerce is a media sponsor of the event—look for us while attending!

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