Pfizer taps cloud computing to gain control of supply chain
September 13, 2012
Grazed from FierceBIOTechIT. Author: Ryan McBride.
Pfizer has treated the complications of its supply chain with doses of cloud computing, virtualization and other tools, enabling the drug giant to track shipments from a large network of internal and external sources with improved efficiency and accuracy, The Financial Times reports.
As the FT reports, Pfizer has reconfigured the IT systems for managing its supply chain over the past year and a half in response to a variety of challenges. For instance, the company’s megamerger with Wyeth in 2009 brought its own integration challenges. More recently, the company’s top selling cholesterol drug Lipitor faces pricing pressure because of new generic competition, forcing Pfizer to adopt measures to supply the pill as efficiently as possible…
Supply-chain problems carry consequences for drugmakers and potentially patients. Patients depend on the drugs ferried along supply chains to treat serious conditions and drugmakers risk losing revenue when shipments fail to arrive or other issues arise in their supply chains. In some cases, pharma manufacturers adopt new software and infrastructure to manage their supply chains with an eye toward eventual cost-savings as well as improved regulatory compliance…
Read more from the source @ http://www.fiercebiotechit.com/story/pfizer-taps-cloud-computing-gain-control-supply-chain/2012-09-12