Clinical Trial Supply Chains: All You Need To Know

By Author: Octalsoft
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Clinical trial supply and logistics networks guarantee that study locations get the resources they require throughout the duration of the investigation. This enables patient visits to take place without being hampered by a lack of medications, supplies, or equipment.

The COVID-19 epidemic put supply chains to the test. According to the Capgemini Research Institute's Supply Chain Study, 74 percent of firms encountered delayed shipments/longer lead times, and 68 percent had items held up in ports or at borders, among other concerns. Let's look at how you can make your organization's research supply chain less sensitive to interruption.

What is a Supply Chain?

A clinical trial supply logistics supply chain comprises everyone involved in the manufacturing and distribution networks. This includes the manufacturers and logistical companies that transport inputs from one step to the next. In addition to wholesalers, distributors and retailers need to ensure that items are available to consumers who desire them.

A complex network of relationships shapes supply networks. These linkages influence not just the ...
... movement of resources from one location to another but also the incentives for businesses to spend on developing new products.

Recent Changes to Supply Chains

Supply networks are more complicated, linked, and global than they have ever been. While the growing globalization of manufacturing has helped lower consumer costs in the United States, it also means that these supply chains are more vulnerable to disruption than ever before. As compared to previous years, organizations have observed a considerable increase in the number of supply chain interruptions since 2020.

While COVID-19 was the primary cause of recent issues, additional events were part of recent big supply chain disruptions and may create future disruptions. Among these occurrences are:

Natural disasters
Cyberattacks
Transportation disruptions in both container shipping and trucking
Political instability and wars/conflicts

It is becoming increasingly crucial to understand how to encourage rapid healing. It is also critical for businesses to have a strong incentive to spend in order to strengthen their supply and clinical trial logistics procurement networks. This is critical even if they may not be able to fully monetize the advantages of these investments owing to spillover effects to other sections of the networked system.

Problems with the Supply Chain

The frequency and magnitude of clinical trial supply chain logistics-related hazards increase as networks become increasingly integrated. Organizations have had to:

Assist in reducing the impact on production
They must reassess their supply chains to ensure product availability.
Examine manufacturing models.
Build a strategic inventory.
Minimize your dependency on just-in-time production.

Companies also keep less inventory on hand as a result of outsourcing or transferring manufacturing elsewhere. Businesses that previously relied on purchasing items rapidly for a just-in-time production strategy have experienced not only delays but also the inability to supply goods at expected or contractual quantities. According to 25.3 percent of firms, this had a severe, serious, or catastrophic impact on their business.

According to the BCI COVID-19: The Future of Supply Chain research, which was released in June 2020, 19.6 percent of firms expect to store more products as a direct result of COVID-related disruptions. According to the President's Economic Report, 40 percent of containerized imports into the United States pass via the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, where rising demand for products, combined with chronic labor shortages, has caused considerable delays.

Even supply chains with no manufacturing issues experienced delivery congestion. Furthermore, the hazards to a supply chain might increase as global links increase since a disruption in one jurisdiction affects suppliers in all other nations.

Study Supply Chain Impact on Clinical Trials

By July 2020, about 200 businesses had discontinued or postponed clinical studies because of the pandemic, with an estimated 80% of non-COVID-19 clinical trials paused or stopped.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted clinical trial supply networks, as it has disrupted other sectors of the global supply chain.

As the epidemic progressed, delays persisted for months, and ongoing experiments were impeded as any inventory redundancies placed throughout their supply chain deteriorated. Persistent, high-level supply chain shortages spanned all sectors of health care, with 8 to 10 times as many commodities in short supply as before the pandemic.

The clinical trial supply chain was further hampered by raw material shortages, governmental allotment of medical auxiliary supplies, and transportation difficulties. These interruptions have heightened the need of solid supplier and courier partnerships. Every delay, from equipment and supplies failing to arrive on schedule at a clinical facility to patients being unable to complete their appointments, causes an avalanche of consequences. These consequences might range from lower patient retention to longer time to market.

Making Clinical Trial Supply Chains Resilient

It is critical for the management team to concentrate on reducing supply chain risk through supply chain resilience. The capacity of your firm to plan for, respond to, and recover from disruptions in a timely and cost-effective manner is referred to as supply chain resilience.

Techniques to strengthen your clinical trial supply chain include:

Understanding the supply chain structure of your company
Purchasing backup capacity
Increasing the diversity of your supply base
Increasing your capacity to replace goods

The disadvantage is that these measures, particularly redundancy, raise expenses. Regrettably, there is no cost-effective technique that your organization can invest in to eliminate all risks from your research supply chain.

Strategies to Mitigate Clinical Study Supply Chain Risks
There is no single best approach to managing a supply chain, and even within the same industry, diverse solutions are frequently used. The following are some best practices to consider while minimizing clinical trial supply chain risks:

Business continuity planning entails your company's strategy for continuing vital business functions in the event of an unanticipated incident.

Diversification entails broadening your network of suppliers and transportation partners.

Agility - The rapidity with which changes in product and decision-making may occur.

Business continuity planning that includes a focus on supply chain risk is critical for proactively identifying vulnerabilities to your supply chain before they materialize, so that alternatives or relief actions may be created ahead of time.

By establishing a larger network of suppliers to deliver goods and services, you may avoid inventory shortages. It is critical to have a strong vendor certification procedure in place to guarantee that new suppliers are trustworthy, product quality is sufficient, and inventory levels are appropriate. It is critical to do due diligence on all important suppliers to guarantee that they will fulfill the proper quality and safety requirements as well as supply needs.

The more agility your organization has to:

Make swift purchase selections,
purchase strategic inventory on the spot when it becomes available,
accept new merchants,
choose suitable product substitutes,
Provide as much product and equipment flexibility as is feasible in the clinical study procedure.

The easier it will be to navigate many clinical trial supply chain challenges,.

Strengthening Your Study Supply Chain

Developing ties with essential suppliers is critical. This, combined with allowing new suppliers in, product flexibility, contingency planning, and CTMS software logistics, can assist you in meeting your continuous demand for products and services.

Octalsoft’s clinical software suite has prioritized supply chain resilience and taken the necessary steps to assure continuity and minimize interruptions. Book a demo with us now to learn more about how Octalsoft can help you power through clinical trial supply chain roadblocks.