May 2020 - Newsletter #6
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The Shortage of Raw Materials for Pharmaceutical Production and Its Potential Impact
To produce the finished dosages of medicines that are ultimately purchased by consumers, drug supply chains rely on active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) that are manufactured in China. The US is heavily reliant on Indian made finished dosages and India is in turn heavily reliant on the Chinese active pharmaceutical ingredients required to produce those finished dosages. This is also true of other drug supply chains all over the world - a fact that we have previously reported in our newsletters. A recent article in CNN goes into detail about and further confirms this. The article titled, "The coronavirus exposed the US' reliance on India for generic drugs. But that supply chain is ultimately controlled by China", also highlights the risk of a forthcoming shortage of more drugs.
"… there is also a fear among pharma companies that they 'may not have enough stocked-up APIs for their next set of commitments.'"
As reported by CNN, "Jayasree Iyer, the executive director of Access to Medicine Foundation, a non-profit that analyzes pharmaceutical industries, says there is also a fear among pharma companies that they 'may not have enough stocked-up APIs for their next set of commitments.'"
Though we are hopeful that API production and their delivery rates will increase, there is the pragmatic concern that an anticipated second wave of coronavirus infections could deal a significant setback and further reduce the production of drugs and this could impact those who need their prescription drugs.
Moreover, it might not be as simple as moving production to America or other countries with the flick of a switch.
Even in advance of such a setback, PC Mishra, director of India's Directorate General of Foreign Trade warns CNN that, "'[w]e are still facing a lot of difficulty in getting imports from China'". He says imports are down by 40%.
Moreover, it might not be as simple as moving production to America or other countries with the flick of a switch. "[P]lans to move all pharmaceutical manufacturing onshore vastly 'underestimate the significant time, resources and other feasibility challenges and complexities involved'", according to Nicole Longo, public affairs director at pharmaceutical lobbying group PhRMA, who spoke with CNN.
NorthWestPharmacy.com has been successfully taking, processing and delivering affordable prescription drugs throughout the entire coronavirus crisis so we do not wish to appear alarmist in highlighting concerns about the supply of prescription drugs. But we do directly experience the frustration of those who cannot get their vital prescription drugs when there are so many disruptions in the drug supply chain due to the coronavirus crisis. While we've been able to successfully address many of the challenges in drug supply and delivery logistics to date, we do not want our customers to be in a position where procurement of inventory and delivery logistics could be more negatively impacted than they already are today.
We encourage customers who may need medications in the coming months to place their orders now and those whose pending orders await shipping to keep their orders active and in the queue, which ensures they are locked in at the original price quoted at the time of placing the order. That's beneficial to you because we've absorbed most of the coronavirus-related increases in product acquisition costs that we've faced to date but may be unable to do so for much longer. Also, the limited pharmaceutical supply, available cargo space for transport and customs clearances will all be allocated to customers on a first-come-first-served basis and it may be quite some time before worldwide drug supply and delivery systems return to normal. Until such time, orders are no longer being billed at the time they are placed. We will hold your billing information but you won't be billed until your order is dispensed by our pharmacists and ready to be shipped. But, if for any reason you are unable to wait, you can cancel and you won't be billed for any item that has not been shipped.
NorthWestPharmacy.com is one of the largest and most established online pharmacies providing lower cost medications from abroad to customers worldwide. No competitor offering lower cost pharmaceuticals from abroad can match our supply and delivery capacity during this difficult time so please rest assured we are leveraging all our capacity to ensure orders reach customers as fast as possible in the circumstances.
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