More than 1000 important drugs are currently not available in Switzerland. The situation in other European countries is not any better. Research from the Swiss university ETH Zurich now shows that the resilience of pharma supply chains can be dramatically improved through modeling that supply chain, coordinating and optimizing access to remainder stock of scarce medication or their suitable substitutes. In fact on a history of 8 years of data, researchers proved that merely through increasing flexibility in the distribution systems many supply shortages could be avoided. However, this flexibility comes at increased distribution costs. Multi-objective optimization of cost and flexibility will address this challenge.
Drug shortages are a major challenge for healthcare systems around the world. In Switzerland, for example, almost 1,000 medicines covered by health insurance are not available. 📦 In brief ■ ETH Zurich researchers have developed a model capable of measuring in real time how adaptable and resilient a distribution system is. ■ Using extensive logistics data on opiate distribution in the US, they were able to show that it’s possible to stave off supply bottlenecks when distributors coordinate the delivery of remainder stock. ■ The ETH model can help supervisory authorities in Europe to better monitor supply chains for high-demand medications and intervene early on to make these chains more resilient. Article: Christoph Elhardt (Ambra Caserta, Luca Verginer, Giona Casiraghi, Giacomo Vaccario, Frank Schweitzer) Image: KEYSTONE-SDA-ATS AG In relation: D-MTEC ETH Zurich, Wirtschaftliche Landesversorgung WL, Bundesamt für Gesundheit BAG, Swissmedic, FMH Verbindung Schweizer Ärztinnen und Ärzte, GSASA, Interpharma, pharmaSuisse - Schweizerischer Apothekerverband, EMVO | European Medicines Verification Organisation #NavigationSystems #MedicationSupply #RealTimeMeasuring