Browsing by Subject "security of supply"
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(2023)In pharmaceutical sciences the pharmaceutical supply chain is often examined from a quality perspective. As the world is becoming more uncertain due to pandemics and conflicts the societal and political situation where the supply chain operates should be considered. Understanding the big picture helps to consider the cause and effect that lead to medicinal shortages. Effects of these shortages can be seen on every level of the supply chain from the manufacturer to the patient, which is why actors on the supply chain can benefit from understanding the background factors. The aim of the master’s thesis was to examine, whether pharmaceutical field actors could affect realisation of geopolitical risks by preparation and examination that the pharmacotherapy would not be interrupted. Second aim was to bring forward political and societal aspects to pharmaceutical availability which are often side-lined by quality aspects in pharmaceutical context. The study was conducted as a qualitative semi-structured interview between October 2022 and February 2023. Participants (n=11) were recruited via e-mail using representative sampling. Due to recruitment problems, convenience sampling was also used. Questions presented to the interviewees were depending on the group (n=3) they were assigned. Term ”geopolitics” was associated mainly with political and economic factors. Main geopolitical risks for Finland were seen to be small market size and distant location. For Europe, the risks were centralisation of manufacturing (and dependence) to Asia due to economic factors and long disruption-prone supply chain. Transport of pharmaceuticals from Asia to Europe was with sea and air cargo. Inside Europe, transport to Finland was with mainly with lorries utilising ferries. Rail transport was mentioned to be used only on one interview. The transport routes were seen to be staying the same in the future both for Asia-Europe and Europe-Finland. Even though risk management is an important part of functioning of every company, the change in the type of risks requires a new mindset in the pharmaceutical field both from the individual actors as well as international organisations. From risk of strikes and natural disasters we have moved to trade wars, pandemic restrictions, and the strategic acting of industries critical to society. At the same time, the ability/willingness of societies to pay for pharmaceuticals is decreasing, which leads to the manufacturers to find new ways to ensure business.
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(2023)The obligatory storing of medicines is a vital part of the secure supply of medicines in Finland. Over the past few years, its importance has further increased due to the growing number of medicine shortages. Evaluating the effectiveness of the obligatory storing system is important in order to improve it, but so far research on the matter has been limited. The aim of this study was to investigate how the obligatory storages of pharmaceutical manufacturers and importers are used during medicine shortages in Finland, and to assess the effectiveness of their use in these situations. The material for this study consisted of medicine shortage notifications which had been received by the Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian medicine authorities with a forecasted starting date between January and June 2022. In addition, Finnish exemption permits for lower storage levels from the same time period were investigated. Medicine shortage notifications were grouped based on the obligatory storing status of the medicine. The share of obligatorily stored medicines out of all shortage notifications was the smallest in Finland (10%) when compared to Sweden and Norway. There were no statistically significant differences in any of the countries in the duration of a shortage between obligatorily stored medicines and medicines which are not obligatorily stored. In total, 151 exemption permits had been granted within the time period of the study, 129 (85%) of which did not have a coinciding medicine shortage. This suggests that a patient-affecting shortage had successfully been avoided. The remaining 22 exemption permits were linked to a shortage which started either prior to, or during the validity of the exemption permit. In the Finnish data, 91 notifications concerned obligatorily stored medicines but in 69 (76%) of these cases no exemption permit had been applied for or been granted in relation to the shortage. The results of this study indicate that the obligatory storing of medicines was used to respond to several medicine shortages during the first half of 2022, and in most cases, it seems to have been an effective way to avoid a patient-affecting shortage. However, in some cases the use of an exemption permit was not well-timed, a shortage was experienced despite the releasing of products from the storage, or obligatory storages were not used at all. Based on the results, further research on the practices of obligatory storing and the factors which affect the use of exemption permits is needed to develop the system further and to improve its effectiveness in responding to medicine shortages.
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