As clinical trials become more complex, drug shortages are one of the biggest challenges in clinical trial supply management. They’re also on the rise – with a 2022 poll showing 83% of pharmaceutical companies reported experiencing supply chain risks in the past 24 months.
These drug shortages can have potentially devastating consequences if life-saving drugs are unavailable to patients, risking their treatment and the success of the trial.
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Speaking at the Clinical Trial Supply New England 2024 conference, Maxime Derep, senior solutions engineer at deep tech software company N-SIDE urged companies to leverage technological solutions to identify risk and prevent shortages.
“Something we’ve noticed in the clinical trial supply industry is that everything is done very reactively,” said Derep. “So, the question is – what can we do to be more proactive in our clinical supplies? One of those things is tackling drug shortages by using forecasting technology that can assess patient demand accurately, so all patients have the right drug at the right time in the right location.”
Derep highlighted how pharmaceutical companies are still relying on tracking supply chain information using Excel spreadsheets but then become overwhelmed by conflicting elements in the supply chain.
“The great part about technology is that it can incorporate all the different parts of the supply chain into one central location. Supply chain managers can then standardize their processes and not have different spreadsheets from person to person, across the company. It also ensures that all the spreadsheets are up to date in real time and integrate with the company’s IoT or other forms of technology to provide updated forecasts.”
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By GlobalDataN-SIDE solutions engineer Jake Levine highlighted case studies of how software was able to avert supply chain disruption and ensure patient safety.
“Technology is safe,” concluded Levine. “Not only is it a safety net for patients, and companies, but it’s also a safety net to ensure that a company’s finances and everything works well together. So, we hope more companies can leverage it to protect their clinical trials.”
This week, the US Food & Drug (FDA) Commissioner Robert Califf appeared before the House Oversight Committee calling for the agency to have more authority to monitor supply chains and prevent drug shortages.
