38TWENTYFOURSEVENBIOPHARMA Issue 3 / October 2025 DIGITALISATION Few events have highlighted the vulnerabilities of pharmaceutical supply chains as harshly as the Covid-19 crisis when shortages of basic medicines and raw-material bottlenecks forced governments and companies into crisis mode. Two years after the World Health Organization lifted its global health emergency in 2023, the industry is refining a model long built on efficiency. The emphasis now is resilience: supply networks that are diversified, digitally visible and aligned with sustainability goals. Stockpiling: Lessons learnt Covid-19 compelled countries to stockpile active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and critical intermediates. However, this exercise proved expensive and limited in its response. Brandon Daniels, Chief Executive of supply-chain analytics group Exiger, argued for a more precise approach: “By combining stockpiling with precise, data-driven visibility into where ingredients come from, policymakers and US pharmaceutical manufacturers can target the right APIs, diversify away from single points of failure, and ensure that the medicines in our cabinets aren’t compromised by geopolitical leverage or unethical practices.” Washington reached a similar conclusion when it launched the Strategic Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Reserve (SAPIR) in 2025, which aimed to secure domestic production of critical drug ingredients and reduce reliance on overseas suppliers. It marked the most significant federal intervention in the pharmaceutical supply chain in decades – a measure not lost on the White House, which acknowledged that “only about 10% of the APIs used in the United States are made here.” The figure served as a warning to the over-reliance on foreign production. Stockpiles may buy time, but lasting resilience requires diversification and dual sourcing across multiple regions. Regional vs global Global supply chains built around efficiency and centralised production hubs long underpinned the industry. The pandemic demonstrated the risks of that dependence, as transport bottlenecks and trade restrictions exposed the limits of a model overly reliant on single geographies. Management consultants McKinsey put it bluntly: “Supply chains matter. The plumbing of global
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