Covid-19 severely disrupted pharmaceutical supply chains, issuing a loud warning to the industry: Far-flung manufacturing sites carry a perilous risk. But the pandemic wasn’t the first alarm. While the transfer of pharma sourcing and manufacturing to Asia has lowered costs, it has also directly affected supply chain reliability. Data from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) shows an increase in prepandemic drug shortages resulting from several factors, including quality issues and disruptive events, such as the 2017 fire at a Chinese plant that led to a global shortage of piperacillin/tazobactam.
The winner-take-all generic pharmaceutical bidding process in Germany also has produced drug shortages by reducing the number of producers or bidders over time. In some cases, for example, the winners were sales offices dependent on foreign third-party manufacturers incapable of delivering high drug volumes.