Tips and tricks for an efficient clinical supply chain

Clinical supply chain issues are nothing new in the clinical trials industry. Can clinical supply chain managers improve their supply chain performance and guarantee a more efficient, sustainable, and waste-free drug delivery to patients?

At N-SIDE, we have optimized over 12,000 trials and we have gathered important learnings over our 20+ years of experience. In this article, we will delve into the main drivers of clinical trial supply chain inefficiencies and give concrete tips and tricks that can easily be put in place to ensure a supply chain as efficient as possible!

Clinical trial inefficiencies and their main drivers

Let’s start with what exactly makes supply chains inefficient and what clinical supply chain managers can do to go toward a more efficient, sustainable, and waste-free environment.

At N-SIDE we have identified 6 main drivers of inefficiencies:

• The trial design
• The supply chain design
• The (lack of) monitoring
• The IRT strategy
• The demand forecasting and planning
• Unexpected events

The trial design

Trial design is definitely an important factor here. Not only is it rarely designed to be supply friendly, clinical supply chain managers also have little influence on it.  However, as you can see in the document below, a supply friendly trial design enables:

• More flexibility for clinical supply
• Less inventories
• More confidence in patient demand fulfilment

Therefore, it also enables more efficiency! 

You can swipe through the document below to check concrete examples of what a supply friendly trial design entails and which parameters can be affected such as the visit schedule, the country selection or the country opening.

The supply chain design and its constraints

Let’s now turn to the supply chain design itself. Evidently, there are elements such as shipping lead times or drug shelf life that a clinical supply chain manager cannot control in the supply chain design or its constraints. But the good news is that there are factors that they can influence! 

Among other things, supply chain managers can control:

• Manufacturing strategies
• Stability plannings
• Sourcing strategies
• Packaging frequency
• ….

The site resupply strategy (IRT/RTSM)

The impact of a supply chain’s IRT/RTSM configuration on its overall efficiency is often underestimated. But it has a direct impact on elements such as:

• The number of shipments
• The site inventories and waste
• The risks of drug shortages

The demand forecasting and planning

There is no doubt that forecasting and planning technology is becoming increasingly more common in the life sciences industry. The impact it can have on the overall efficiency of the supply chain however, is not always that easy to grasp.

In the document below, you can learn about 5 crucial steps to follow if you want to successfully fulfill patient demand and save considerable product, time, and money. They relate to:

1. The demand
2. The design
3. The product
4. The overage
5. The algorithms

A lack of monitoring

Due to clinical trials’ inherent unpredictability, good monitoring of the demand forecast and supply plan is key. But what does diligent monitoring mean exactly, and how can clinical supply chain managers achieve it?

The document below shows that to know when the supply chain is at risk, supply chain managers need to know what the current strategy actually covers. It goes on to explain that risk-based clinical supply monitoring is the only way to proactively avoid risks.

Reacting to unexpected risk

Supply chain issues are very common in the industry, and the top priority should always be to ensure that patients receive their drug on time. Let’s now take a look at how trial continuity can actually be ensured thanks to AI.

Patient demand is evidently an important source of uncertainty. Check out the document below to see how to mitigate this risk.

Another key factor is to understand why quantifying the efficiency in supplying kits on time can not only benefit all patients but supply chain manager’s peace of mind as well.

You can check the document below to see how quantifying risk can actually help to:

• Proactively manage inventory
• Know when and where to send kits
• Support a balanced workload

Key takeaways

Throughout this article, we’ve demonstrated how you can enhance your operations and transform your clinical supply chain with proven strategies!

As a reminder, here are 7 recommendations to keep in mind for a more efficient clinical supply chain:

1. Influence the trial design
2. Optimize the supply chain design
3. Optimize the right IRT, in the right way
4. Have the right tools and data for your forecasting and planning
5. Monitor the patients and supply chain
6. Use AI to re-assess the assumptions
7. Use risk mitigation solutions to fight shortages.