Innovation in the Pharma Supply Chain

As pharmaceutical companies deal with a slowly recovering macroeconomic environment and changing industry fundamentals, the role of sourcing and procurement to help meet cost objectives and create value for an organization is exceedingly important. To address these issues, the Drug, Chemical and Associated Technologies Association (DCAT), along with its partner, the Pharma Forum and Chemical Group of the Institute of Supply Management (ISM), will offer perspectives from the pharmaceutical majors, their suppliers, and other leading experts on ways to use innovation in sourcing, procurement, and related activities as a driver for value creation. The educational program, the DCAT/ISM Sourcing Summit’ 11: Innovative Sourcing, will he held July 13 and 14 at the Sheraton Newark Airport Hotel in New Jersey.

The program will feature insight from Pfizer, DSM, and other innovation experts, to explain how different types of innovation are developed and implemented to deliver overall value to an organization, including sourcing and business-development relationships. The program also will feature interactive panel discussions of sourcing and supply-chain professionals to explain how they are using innovation to improve the pharmaceutical value chain.

An innovation panel discussion, which will be held Wed. July 13, will be moderated by Ron Perry, senior director and global leader of worldwide procurement at Pfizer, and Tyson Popp, vice-president of research and development (R&D) at West Pharmaceutical Services. Panel members include: Donna J. Gruol, associate director of business development and alliance management with Teva Parenetal Medicines; Rhonda Griscti, director of R&D procurement at GlaxoSmithKline; and Oscar-Werner Reif, executive vice-president of R&D and managing director at Sartorius Stedim Biotech.

The panel discussion will be followed by an interactive session led by representatives from the management-consulting firm Accenture that will focus on three specific dimensions of innovation—products/services, process, and operating/business models—as tools to advance sourcing and procurement activities. Session leaders from Accenture include Shubber Ali, senior manager of the process innovation performance service line; Christopher McKenna, partner; Mitch Sava, senior manager of innovation performance; and Mitali Sharma, senior executive of the process and innovation performance service line.

Also, Puneet Sapra, director of worldwide business development and innovation at Pfizer will offer a keynote address on approaches in innovation taken by Pfizer. And Robert Fry, senior economist at DuPont, will provide a macroeconomic outlook and its implications for the chemical industry.

Panel discussions on Thursday July 18 will focus on implementation strategies for innovation, including cultural changes, building knowledge bases and skill sets, and approaches for engaging staff, stakeholders, and suppliers. Ron Perry, senior director and global leader of worldwide procurement at Pfizer and Tyson Popp, vice-president of R&D at West Pharmaceutical Services will again moderate the panel. Panel members include: Albert Gallo, sourcing director of clinical technologies and supply management at Johnson & Johnson; Ansa Yiadom, director of global packaging material procurement at Pfizer; and Andreas Stolle, head of the pharma business line at Saltigo.

Additionally, Paul Sidhu, vice-president of marketing and strategy at DSM Pharmaceutical Products, will share four case studies from DSM to offer a perspective on adoption of innovation from a contract manufacturing organization’s perspective. And the representatives from Accenture will further discuss the results from the interactive innovation sessions.

Details of the summit may be found here.