The COVID-19 pandemic has created logistical challenges for companies prompting them to increase stocks in a bid to mitigate the impact of potential disruptions.
GlobalData has conducted a survey to assess the trend of scenarios pharmaceutical companies are developing to respond to coronavirus-related disruptions.
An analysis of the survey revealed that a majority of the companies did not develop any scenarios in Q1 although they began to stock-up inventories in Q3.
Companies that increased stocks for active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), and intermediates exported/imported from certain key countries and regions jumped from 24% in Q1 to 35% in Q3.
Similarly, the companies that increased the inventories for finished dose products exported/imported from certain key countries and regions increased from 12% in Q1 to 21% in Q3.
Further, 43% of the companies did not develop any scenarios but expected the pandemic to cause disruptions in Q1. The figure dropped to 24% in Q3.
The percentage of companies that did not develop any scenarios and did not expect the pandemic to cause any disruptions largely remained the same dropping by one percentage point, from 21% in Q1 to 20%, in Q3.
The analysis is based on responses received from Pharmaceutical Trade and Supply Chain Survey conducted between 07 July and 30 July 2020.
