Sustainable Procurement & CSR News - Pharmaceutical Industry

United Smart Cities and drug delivery and development company, Cure Pharmaceutical, have announced a global healthcare awareness initiative. In view of escalating healthcare costs, Cure and United Smart Cities will seek to promote education and innovation in delivering cost-effective and sustainable treatments to the world’s 7.3 billion population.

Albertsons Companies pharmacies expects to save "75,000 pounds of packaging from the landfill every year," by changing the packaging they use for shipments according to a company press release. The company is replacing Styrofoam coolers with an insulator called ClimaCell made by TemperPack, making the company's shipment packaging completely recyclable. The packaging will be used for shipments to almost 50,000 specialty care patients, physician offices and other clients beginning this month. A more expansive rollout is planned "over the next year," the company said. 

The Food and Drug Administration will test new methods to improve the traceability of the drug supply from drug manufacturers to repackagers and other members of the pharmaceutical supply chain as part of a pilot project, according to an agency press release.

One of the largest member-driven health care performance improvement companies in the US has partnered with a network of member hospitals and providers to create a centralised master tool for a supply chain innovation programme.

In an all-time record year for FDA approvals (48 so far in 2018), Pharmapack Europe reports that innovation is also accelerating across the drug delivery and packaging industries.The event has become one of the main drivers helping introduce new innovations to the market through its Pharmapack Awards and Start-up Hub, both of which have grown in prominence as a more diverse mixture of companies bring patient changing innovations to market.

GlaxoSmithKline plans to split into two businesses - one for prescription drugs and vaccines, the other for over-the-counter products - after forming a new joint venture with Pfizer's consumer health division. The revamp is the boldest move yet by GSK chief executive Emma Walmsley, who took over last year. 

GSK plans divestments of some £1 billion. Walmsley said there would be an inevitable impact on jobs but there was also an opportunity for cost savings in procurement and across the supply chain. 

Pharmaceutical companies are starting to see the retail supply chain as more than just a way to get drugs from point A to point B. It can be an opportunity to ensure better products and services and create a competitive advantage with consumers – but only if data is connected and well managed. That’s why it wasn’t a surprise to see Walgreens Boots Alliance announce a deal with FedEx in December to make next day drug deliveries. Or Aetna and CVS now in the working phase of their merger. The goal of these and other recent deals is not just to track and trace products around the world, but to look within the supply chain to increase efficiency, cut costs and improve customer satisfaction – to effectively think more like Amazon.

Stepping into this opportunity is FarmaTrust, an interoperable, secure, blockchain-based global tracking system for the pharmaceutical industry. FarmaTrust’s capabilities include:

Regulatory Compliance and Track-and-Trace tools to ensure compliance and allow monitoring for accountability
Supply Chain Visibility features to share a verifiable picture of the full supply chain
Consumer Confidence app to allow authentication of each packet of drugs by end consumers
FarmaTrust completed an ICO earlier this year issuing FarmaTrust Compliance Tracking Tokens which assign digital IDs to each packet of drugs.

The global pharmaceutical packaging market has been predicted to double to $149bn in a decade, with India one of the markets currently producing a large quantity of plastic pharmaceutical packaging. Large multinational pharma packaging companies, such as Amcor, Huhtamaki, West Pharma and SGD Pharma, along with Indian companies, including UFlex and EsselPropack, lead the way within the country’s pharma packaging market. One pharmaceutical challenge India faces is its heavily reliance on plastic packaging, which has triggered discussions on recycling and the lack of consumer knowledge in sustainability. In addition, India’s pharmaceutical packaging market is working towards creating innovative features like digital timers and alarms on pill bottles, dose monitoring and innovative mechanised blister packs.

The global Disposable Medical Supplies market research report presents the current market size, position, and the future scope of the global Disposable Medical Supplies industry. It also highlights the upcoming challenges and novel opportunities in the Disposable Medical Supplies market. The report demonstrates the trends and technological advancement in the Disposable Medical Supplies industry. It presents the current inclinations over the industries & markets, technologies, and capabilities, along with the variable structure of the market.

Walgreens Boots Alliance is highlighting its philanthropy and sustainability efforts from the past year. The company on Tuesday published its 2018 Corporate Social Responsibility Report, which showcases the company’s sustainability efforts to prevent opioid abuse, support cancer patients and their families and address such health issues as malnutrition in the communities it serves.

Healthcare facilities and reverse distributors that dispose of prescription pharmaceuticals must register with the EPA, and separate prescription and characteristically hazardous products from non-prescription products. The EPA says the new rule was designed to reduce the amount of hazardous waste entering drinking and surface water from people discarding pharmaceuticals by "sewering," or flushing them down sinks and toilets.

The Indian government seeks to boost local drug production by stipulating that the ‘local content’ of domestic products is 75% and 10% for those that are non-domestic. India’s Department of Pharmaceuticals has announced measures, issued at the start of the year​, specifying the ‘local content’ of pharmaceutical products is to be considered during the purchasing process.The aim of the guidance is to encourage state governments and procuring entities to favour pharmaceutical products produced locally, as part of the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative. Each procuring entity will be required to constitute a committee for independent verification of the procurement process, ensuring it follows the government-specified guidelines.

1. Pilot programme involves major cities clubbing together to purchase certain medicines, driving down prices
2. Chinese companies that have invested heavily in R&D stand best chance of survival

China’s plan to drive down generic drug prices through a centralised bulk procurement programme is set to redraw the industry by forcing its thousands of small generic drug makers to streamline and consolidate after decades of enjoying outsized profit margins.

From new tech to innovative business models and shifting regulations, industry experts weigh in on what changes are coming down the pipeline. 

Innovations in Manufacturing 

Automation continues its rise

Companies will look for new ways to have the edge

Packaging will get smarter

Companies will make better use of data

The rise of non-traditional dosage forms

More R&D dollars could shift from drugs to medical devices

Changes in Regulations

Regulatory strategies could shift and become stricter

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) partners with a local healthcare coalition to identify challenges and dependencies around the flow of medical goods from manufacturer to patient in the nation’s largest city.