Speakers:
- Anibal Brullo, CFO, Drogueria del Sud S.A.
- Carlos Moreira, Pharma & Life Sciences Technology Leader, PwC
- Abraham Okore, Managing Director, Pyramid Healthcare Limited
- Prashant Tandon, Co-Founder & CEO, 1mg
Moderator:
- Subir Basak, Senior Industry Specialist, IFC
Pharmaceuticals is a $1.4 trillion global industry, covering products and services. One sector expert and three pharmaceutical suppliers, each operating in a different region, described their markets and discussed the challenges and solutions associated with so-called last mile connectivity—the process of bringing pharmaceuticals to the patients.
Abraham Okore, Managing Director of Pyramid Healthcare Limited, a supplier of medicines and medical devices with operations in 15 African countries, Tanzania being its biggest hub, noted that most of their patients live in rural areas, which creates huge challenges in terms reach. “Patients are having to walk several kilometers before they can access services in most of the countries,” noted Okore. Pyramid works with philanthropic organizations such as the Gates Foundation to improve access to medicines. Anibal Brullo, the CFO of Drogueria del Sud S.A., one of the largest pharmaceutical wholesalers and distributors in Argentina, said that there were over 230 labs in the country, most of whom are affiliated with four big pharmaceutical distributor groups that have a 90 percent market share between them. In addition, there are more than a thousand drug wholesalers and 13,000 pharmacies in Argentina.
“There are places of more than plenty, and places of no availability.”—Prashant Tandon
Prashant Tandon, Co-Founder and CEO of 1mg, the largest online pharmacy in India and one of the largest online consultation platforms in the country with more than 80 million downloads, said: “The system is super fragmented. India has 800,000 pharmacies, 100,000 labs and 40,000 wholesalers. That leads to huge problems with authenticity and integrity of the supply chain,” with products of questionable quality getting in the chain. Uneven access to drugs is another big challenge: “There are places of more than plenty, and places of no availability,” said Tandon.
“The mistake people sometimes make is thinking that technology is the answer—versus looking more deeply at what is the problem we are trying to solve from a business, medical delivery, or quality perspective, and looking at the technology to see if it’s purposed to solve those problems.” —Carlos Moreira
Carlos Moreira, a Partner at PwC who is an expert on the use of information technology, artificial intelligence, and blockchain technology in the pharma sector, said: “Innovation from a technology perspective is starting to solve some foundational issues” impacting the sector. These include tracking products as they go through the handling process, qualifying the product’s pedigree, identifying counterfeit, and ensuring—for reimbursement purposes—the product gets to the intended end customer. “The mistake people sometimes make is thinking that technology is the answer—versus looking more deeply at what is the problem we are trying to solve from a business, medical delivery, or quality perspective, and looking at the technology to see if it’s purposed to solve those problems,” he added.
STAY CONNECTED
LINKEDIN: linkedin.com/company/ifc-health
TWITTER: #IFChealth
WEB: www.ifc.org/health