Pharma sector needs to thwart packaging and distribution losses in the supply chain, said JB Chowhan, founder & chairman, Chowhan Ventures, the holding company of VHS Logitech.India faces many gaps in its supply infrastructure, including transportation, storage, and power supply. Moving pharmaceuticals and vaccines require continuous monitoring. But with the current infrastructure, companies are unable to ensure a product is stored at the required temperature, he added.Typical challenges encountered by companies are product proliferation, quality and regulatory issues. At the inventory level, India has a multi-tiered distribution network through clearing and forwarding agents and stockists. Because of long manufacturing lead times and regulatory requirements, pharma companies usually maintain higher stock levels with an average inventory hold of 90 days than other industries, even at the cost of writing-off expired inventory. Also there is supply chain fragmentation.
The sheer number of players at each stage and the lack of integration across the network impact visibility and traceability of products in transit, Chowhan told Pharmabiz.Currently, India is a global hub for low-cost medicine manufacturing. The country is referred to as the pharmacy of the world. Hence the pharma supply chain needs to ensure that medicines delivered to patient retain its effectiveness. Manufacture of formulations is a complex process involving several crucial stages like sourcing bulk drugs, packaging, distribution and storage of medicines before it reaches the patient. The integrity of the supply chain makes the outcome patient-centric. We often come across media reports of counterfeit and poor quality medicines. There are several thousand manufacturers of medicines. We are seeing adherence to the global standards in supply chain management by a sizable number to be questionable, said Chowhan.It is here VHS Logitech which developed Coolgix, a blockchain-based anti-counterfeit technology, a one-of-its-kind in India that recently bagged the government of India patent comes to the fore. It enables real-time visibility and traceability using mobile & cloud technologies, with data oriented decision making and quicker turnaround for corrective actions.
It helps to mitigate cold chain losses using IoT (Internet of Things) across the supply chain at critical points of storage and in-transits, he said.The company took over three years to develop the first commercially deployable Coolgix designed for India and global customers. Efforts are on to focus on continuous improvement, to build an Enterprise Grade Global platform, involving IoT & blockchain to ensure end-to-end traceability with global compliance standards and right kind of advanced technologies. The Coolgix patent is for its feature Electronically Verified & Verifiable – Good Storage & Distribution Practices (eVV GSDP).Currently, Coolgix P is used by Vardhman Health Specialities, Aknamed warehouse pan-India and Abbott India for its last mile delivery from their mother warehouse to C& F agents.
The company is working to provide this solution globally. VHS Logitech has subsidiary companies in Singapore cater to Asia and UAE markets. It is also in Texas, US, in collaboration with Akuratemp, which offers smart temperature-controlled single-use and multi-use packaging solutions using PCM technology to transport biological specimens and pharmaceuticals. It is high time for Indian pharma to opt for tech-enabled supply chain management with artificial intelligence and blockchain to thwart the menace of counterfeits, said Chowhan.