Bibliometric Analysis of Published Literature on the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain

Introduction

Organizations which aim towards achieving good business results, focuses on quality decisions with respect to its expenditure. A smart supply chain can prove to be effective for having a competitive edge in a manufacturing industry (Saha & Jha, 2020) (Zeddam, Belkaid, & Bennekrouf, 2020). Medicine scarcities and inappropriate use of pharmaceuticals often resort to fiscal losses and significantly affect patients. Numerous hospitals and healthcare systems have experienced problems in attaining these objectives as they have not addressed proper management, storage and supply chain of medicines (Uthayakumar & Priyan, 2013). Industries on the other end face difficulties in balancing the anticipated demands with future capacity as there is significant uncertainty due to competition and challenging activities of competitors and clinical trials (Shah, 2004). The flow of materials and demand information are intrinsically connected. The upstream flow of demand information creates the downward flow of service or materials. The accuracy and speed are important parameters for handling the information (Pedroso & Nakano, 2009). Research in the field of healthcare operations, supply chain are essential and can help to improve patient safety, public health, health policy, and strategic decision-making in the pharmaceutical supply chain (Saha, Saha, & Jha, 2022).

Transportation of medicines from the manufacturing plants to distributors and retailers is different from other commodities. Medicines and healthcare products require varied conditions (temperature, light, pressure etc) for maintaining and safeguarding the medicinal properties (Saha & Jha, 2018). A change in the conditions can transform the drug from a lifesaving item into a life taking one. Hence, it is essential to have an efficient supply chain of pharmaceutical products. The distribution system should not only aim at minimizing costs but also ensure strong compliance with the service standards (Goodarzian, Hosseini-Nasab, Muñuzuri, & Fakhrzad, 2020). In spite of advancements in the manufacturing processes, storage and transportation systems, many pharma companies are not in a position to fulfil the demands of the market (Zahiri, Jula, & Tavakkoli-Moghaddam, 2018). The journey of a pharmaceutical product encompasses primary and secondary manufactures, distributors, wholesalers and retailers. Active ingredients of the product are provided by primary manufacturers. These ingredients are then processed by the pharma companies. The finished products are transported to the distributors which are further shipped to wholesalers, retailers and hospitals. Due to drug supply shortages hospitals are unable to treat their patients properly leading to patient dissatisfaction and endangering lives (Baporikar & Kaloia, 2020). The perishability nature of the pharma products is another major challenge in pharmaceutical supply chain.

The evolution of technologies like Industry 4.0 (Gumzej, 2022), blockchain, cloud computing, internet of things, big data (Galli, 2019), machine learning and artificial intelligence have revolutionized the management of supply chains (Bhattacharyya, Garlapad, & Kulkarni, 2022; Bhattacharyya & Nair, 2019). Logistics, which has always been a vital element of supply chain has also evolved by integration of logistics partners with supply chain management and adoption of technologies (Bhattacharyya et al., 2022). Traceability in supply chain has been enhanced due to integration of technology and has enhanced scrutiny and transparency in the system (Folinas, 2019; Kros, Liao, Kirchoff, & Zemanek Jr, 2019). Different algorithms like Association Rule Mining (ARM), Update with Early Pruning (UEP), Apriori (Bicer, Indictor, Yang, & Zhang, 2022) etc. are being used effectively to mine the datasets generated and extract information which can help to increase the efficiency of supply chain management systems (Bicer, Indictor, Yang, & Zhang, 2021). Hence, it is important to understand and reflect the work that has already been done in the field of supply chain specially with a focus on the pharmaceutical industry. The prominent authors, funding agencies, countries which are doing research and the evolution of terms and keywords.