DEVELOPING A DRUG SUPPLY CHAIN

Abstract

Medicinal drugs play a very important role in public health care programmes of countries. It helps save lives and draws people to health facilities where they can receive treatment. Medicinal drugs also help keep health care costs down. Patients would prefer treatment to surgical operations. Also corporates as well as insurance companies would prefer to pay for drug treatment rather than pay for potentially risky and more expensive surgery. Moreover the cost of complications by not treating illness with medicines in the early stages could further increase the expense. The high cost of medicines puts increasing pressure on health care budgets. In many industrialized nations of the world the elderly population (those older than 65 years of age) is expected to double in the next 50 years. This section of the population usually has a high health care expenditure. In many developing economies, including India, the epidemiological profile is changing. It is evolving from infectious and less expensive diseases, to chronic degenerative diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. Tobacco use, prolonged and unhealthy physical inactivity and excessive alcohol use are major causes and risk factors for these diseases. Also, trends in tobacco use are expected to increase in the developing countries. (WHO, fact sheet, Jan 1, 2000) Nutritional transition by increase in intake of high fat and fast food products, and a sedentary life style, and also pressure to perform promotes cardiac diseases. These diseases are more expensive to treat. In fact, in India, the highest growth
in coronary artery diseases (CAD) is among young executives. Studies confirm that cardiac aliments start taking root in people with high stress jobs and irregular lifestyles even in their 20s and 30s. Prevelence of CAD has increased from 15-20% to 30-40% in the last 10 years affecting almost 10% of the population while it is only 7% in the US and Europe and 4% in China. (Young Executives have to keep tabs on heart, The Economic Times, Oct. 31, 2006, p.8) Most public health programmes supply drugs through old and outdated and complex supply chains. As a result critical drugs many a time are not available to people as and when he needs them and very often counterfeit drugs are supplied. Drug counterfeiting is a very common problem that exists in India. Organisations and individuals peddling fake medicine is a common instance. They put a large number of unsuspecting patients at risk by exposing them to unknown contaminants and denying them medicine known to be safe and effective at treating medical ailments. This paper proposes a model to develop a drug supply chain for India and offers suggestions to make the right drugs available in the right quantity, at the right place, at the right time, in the right condition, to the right customer, and at the right cost.