The State of Pharmaceutical Industry Supply Planning and Demand Forecasting

THE STATE OF PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY SUPPLY PLANNING AND DEMAND FORECASTING By Dan Kiely Describes in detail the problems which the pharmaceutical industry faces … because of the technical, regulatory and structural problems, collaboration among pharmaceutical supply chain partners is lacking relative to other industries … risk associated with forecast error that cannot be analyzed with deterministic point forecasting techniques can be analyzed with stochastic techniques, such as Monte Carlo Analysis, that account for uncertainty through probability and ranges. Nowadays, pharmaceutical company executives face a dizzying array of complicated industry conditions when analyzing the supply of and demand for prescription drugs. Rising technical barriers posed by biotechnology; tougher regulatory policies set by government agencies; more stringent cost containment measures imposed by health care providers; growing product litigation from patient advocates; mounting competition from generic drugs; increasing prevalence of counterfeit branded drugs; and declining return on investment from new products are just a few examples of adverse market conditions that are making it more ...