Is Your Clinical Supply Chain Fully Optimized?

By Ian Davison, Medrio

The primary goal of a clinical trial supply strategy is to ensure the right product is available and dispensed to the right participant at the right time. Second, come the goals of increasing efficiency and reducing waste. To reach these goals, sponsors need to do more than just manage their supply chain, they need supply chain optimization.

At the end of the study, many sponsors must destroy unused stock. This inefficient process ultimately wastes costly investigational product (IP) and adds to the expense of running a clinical trial. Meanwhile, the entire product life cycle must be tracked, including its return or destruction, adding to the management burden necessary to complete a trial.

When sponsors can develop a lean, streamlined supply chain operations strategy, they alleviate staff workload and significantly reduce IP waste. Developing this strategy is easier said than done, but with the right partners, an optimized supply chain is feasible and cost-effective.

In this article, we answer the questions:

• When should you think about supply chain logistics?
• How do you plan for study complexity?
• How can you make best use of staff resources?
• Are you optimizing your supply chain?