Material convergence issue in the pharmaceutical supply chain during a disease outbreak

Abstract

PurposePharmaceutical donations are a practical approach to increase medicine availability during disasters such as disease outbreaks. However, often donated pharmaceuticals are inappropriate and unsuitable. This convergence of inappropriate pharmaceuticals is a severe operational challenge and results in environmental hazards. This study explores the pharmaceutical supply chains (PSCs) during a disease outbreak to relieve the negative impact of the material convergence problem (MCP).Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts a situation-actors-process learning-action-performance (SAP-LAP) linkage framework to understand the PSC dynamics. The problem-solving component of the SAP-LAP analysis provides the strategies catering to MCP. The findings from the SAP-LAP helped to develop the causal loop diagram (CLD). This study conducts several experiments on the proposed strategies by integrating CLD into a stock and flow diagram. Later, a disease outbreak case study accessed the pharmaceutical donations effect on PSC performance.FindingsThe study synthesises and evaluates propositions and strategies to incorporate circular economy (CE) principles in PSC. This study proposed two strategies; one to sort and supply and the other to sort, supply and resell. The reuse policy improves humanitarian organisations' finances in the simulation study. This study verified the operational improvement of PSC by reducing the transport and storage burden due to MCP.Originality/valueThis study comprehensively approaches the issue of drug donation and uniquely produced several propositions for incorporating a CE perspective in PSC. The study also proposed a unique simulation approach to model the donation arrivals in response to a disease outbreak using susceptible, exposed, infectious and recovered modelling.

Unveiling the Hidden Risks: Exploring Vulnerabilities in the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain

“…We assert that implementing circular economy principles within the pharmaceutical supply chain can substantially improve environmental and operational aspects. opportunity and challenges of reverse logistics and discovered pharmaceuticals to be the most (Patil et al, 2022;Tukamuhabwa et al, 2023). The findings of the present study highlight the link between supply chain management, total quality management and operational performance in the pharmaceutical industry.…”

“…A study highlights that donors rarely fund the overseas transport cost. Pharmaceutical waste at the disaster site can instigate new cases of infectious disease and pose a threat to the environment (Patil et al, 2022). According to a local Greek pharmacist, individuals frequently do not take their medications as prescribed, which results in waste.…”

Supply Chain Resilience in the Pharmaceutical Industry: A Qualitative Analysis from Scholarly and Managerial Perspectives

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A sustainable decision‐making framework for school consolidation policy

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