The study and administration of medicine has become increasingly personalized. Increasingly, the focus of clinical trials has moved on patients. In the last few years, with the pandemic forcing everybody indoors, there has also been a marked uptick in the demand for virtual and home-based trials. If you must participate in a clinical trial, why not do it from the comfort of your own home?
This rapidly evolving landscape has brought to the forefront the need for fast and globally sourced clinical supply providers who can ensure worldwide solutions to clinical trial needs while mitigating risk and optimizing overall efficiency. Let’s take a look to understand what is growing global clinical supply and its importance.
Table of contents:
- What is the global clinical supply process?
- What is the importance of a clinical supply chain?
- The global clinical supply market is growing
What is the global clinical supply process?
The clinical supply process begins at the raw material stage and is completed when the finished product is delivered to the intended final consumer. A global clinical supply process distributes this process worldwide.
An internationally supplied investigational medicine or product will involve the following stages:
- Global sourcing of comparators
- Manufacturing
- Storage
- Distribution
- Consumer management (the consumer here could be a patient or a trial administrator)
- Destruction of returned medicines and products
Clinical trial supplies companies, like Client Pharma, specialize in optimizing the many stages of the clinical supply process to meet the requirements of clinical trials and studies around the world. They offer solutions for the sourcing and supply of the necessary study-related products and help meet commercial drug supply requirements.
What is the importance of a clinical supply chain?
A dependable supply chain is crucial to ensure the availability of the right medication and products at the right time, to the right consumer. An efficient supply chain will minimize inventory wastage, ensure the most optimal patient care, and conduct coordinated supply chain operations to minimize the possibility of human errors.
An efficient supply chain mitigates against:
Initiation Delays: Factors such as insufficient bulk materials, unanticipated demand, and manufacturing delays can lead to the postponement of clinical trials.
Continuity Issues: Changes in supply flow and volume after a study is underway can lead to a lack in the continuity of the study drug.
Oversupply: Poor forecasting of study essentials or bad budgeting can lead to the oversupply of clinical trial materials.
The global clinical supply market is growing
Recent estimates have suggested that the global clinical trial supply and logistics market will expand to an estimated USD $2.9 billion by 2026 (from a size of $1.9 billion in 2021). This accelerating growth is a reflection of the increasing number and complexity of potential therapies that are being elevated to the clinical trial stage.
Countries across the Asia-Pacific region, such as China, Singapore, India, and South Korea have been identified as emerging markets for investment in the pharmaceutical supply chain and logistics, due to their relatively inexpensive cost of operations and large heterogeneous patient population base. Recent research also found that logistics and distribution, and warehousing were the most commonly leveraged service in global clinical supply management.
