A variety of hot issues in the pharmaceutical industry are out there to tackle. But a big one that will continue to see a great deal of discussion, proposals and change in 2012 is the integrity of drugs and medical devices. Anti-counterfeiting, quality control, and security have traditionally been major priorities in this industry. A major part of this effort is track and trace, or an industry-wide effort to capture the pedigree of a drug or medical device from its production onward. Track and trace operations help reduce counterfeiting and other similar issues.

Track and trace initiatives are already making headlines this year in the US. According to the Pharma Times Online, new standards for track and trace in imports, anti-counterfeiting & anti-theft operations, and new best practices are the four main areas are being championed by the US Pharmacopeial Convention (USP).

While there are still disagreements about which standards and best practices are the right ones in this industry, the USP points out there are incentives for companies to come to an agreement. 2012 will be a key year in moving these proposals to becoming the standard for safer products in this industry.

For more on what to expect in the pharmaceutical and medical products industry in 2012, see this list of priorities for the year written by experts at Tompkins.

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Jim Tompkins

Photo Credit:  John Pavelka 

There’s no doubt that M&A has picked up the pace dramatically in 2011. Recent estimates show a 58% increase in global M&A activity in the first quarter of this year versus the same time period in 2008.

If this high rate of M&A activity continues, we may even come close to the bubble environment of 2007. Private equity companies, of course, are heavily involved in many of these deals as sellers, buyers or funders.

Other M&A deals involve strategic acquisitions by sole companies looking to expand distribution channels or enter a new product market.

M&A has certainly not been limited to specific industries this year – from Jimmy Choo shoes being sold for $800 million to luxury products group Labelux, to General Mills purchasing half of French yogurt company Yoplait for over a billion, to multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical and high-tech deals – the pace and variety of activity is something to behold.

Top 11 Priorities – Update for M&A and Pharmaceutical

In the latter part of last year, Tompkins’ experts compiled lists for the Top 11 Priorities in 2011 for Profitable Growth and made predictions about M&A in general as well as in pharmaceutical and related industries. How did we do? Not bad at all.

But we missed part of the story in M&A by undervaluing the role of ROI through supply chain due diligence. For more details, read the rest of the story on M&A for 2011.

In the pharmaceutical, medical products and biotech industries, M&A is much hotter than anticipated. Tompkins predicted that uncertainty would slow things down in these sectors in 2011. Well, we were wrong – these organizations are acquiring and investing in small, medium and large companies on a large scale. In some cases, multiple supply chain integrations are being undertaken simultaneously between pharma, bio-tech and medical productions companies.  Read more about M&A in the pharma industry in this Top 11 Priorities update.

Also, look for more mid-year analysis on Top 11 Priorities for other industries here in my blog in the coming weeks.

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Jim Tompkins

More Resources

Whitepaper: Integrating Supply Chains from Business Combinations

M&A Education Center

Pharmaceutical Education Center

One would be hard pressed to find an industry that is simultaneously as successful, complex, delicate and change-prone as pharmaceutical, biotech and medical products is today.

I am constantly reading reports in this sector about new drug launches, regulations, recalls, expiring patents, counterfeiting and tampering, and acquisition deals. Federal Health Care Reform is law, but certain parts of it are still being worked out in the courts and in Washington, DC. See, complicated, right? But also growing and changing.

In fact, as I write this, one of the world’s largest biotechnology companies, (Genzyme) Sanofi, [NOTE: Corrected 2/4/2011 - Sanofi is the company in discussions to acquire Genzyme, not the other way around as was mistakenly typoed in the original blog post] is set to begin due diligence that may lead to it acquiring Sanofi Genzyme – a multinational pharmaceutical company. If the deal is reached, it will close a long and intense period of negotiations over one of the largest mergers in the past year. To achieve profitable growth, companies such as Genzyme Sanofi are being forced to boost their drug pipelines and find new avenues to increase sales, operational efficiency and shareholder value.

What pharmaceutical and related companies all have in common is the need for a strong yet agile supply chain. You name a hot issue in the pharmaceutical industry – and you can bet it is impacted by the supply chain. This is one of the reasons that our experts recently developed the Top 11 Priorities in 2011 for Pharmaceuticals, Biotech and Medical Products.

Do you see one of your company’s priorities on this Top 11 list? Are there others that should be added? It will be interesting to see where this industry heads next.

More Resources

Case Study: Supply Chain Facility Strategic Master Plan

Top 11 Priorities in 2011 for Pharmaceuticals, Biotech and Medical Products

Pharmacueitcals and Medical Products

 Photo Credit: Erix