Survey: Doctors Believe Holes in Medical Supply Chain Must Be Addressed

The vast majority (95%) of US physicians believe that the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed vulnerabilities in the medicines supply chain that are not going away, while seven out of 10 (73%) feel their trust in the ability of the supply chain to deliver safe, quality medicines has eroded, according to a survey released by United States Pharmacopeia (USP), an independent, scientific nonprofit organization.

Nine out of 10 physicians surveyed (90%) said they are concerned that the global medicines supply chain may not be reliable in a time of crisis.

"… Despite its enormous complexity, the medicines supply chain has not 'broken.' Rather, the pandemic surfaced both longstanding vulnerabilities and acute, pandemic-driven resiliency gaps," says Ronald T. Piervincenzi, PhD, CEO of USP. "We must continue to work together on multi-pronged solutions to identify and mitigate supply chain vulnerabilities that adversely impact physicians' ability to deliver quality care and erode trust in quality medicines."

Further, the survey showed 83% of physicians believe that drug shortages have become a bigger problem in recent years, an issue alluded to in a 2019 FDA report that found 62% of drug shortages occur due to quality issues in manufacturing.