A new study into how pharmaceutical and life sciences firms are using supply chain visibility technology in clinical trials has revealed that many companies have been slow to make use of the technology, and as a result are missing out on opportunities to make significant cost and time reductions when developing new treatments. Typically, distribution costs can be reduced by 50% and inventory costs by 40% when visibility tools are combined with network optimisation.

The study was commissioned by the world’s leading contract logistics provider, DHL Supply Chain and can be read in full at http://supplychain.dhl.com/clinicaltrials

Supply chain visibility tools allow managers to know at any one time the location of the total clinical trial inventory and approximate timings to move them throughout the supply chain. They can also provide additional information such as how study medicines are packaged and when they are due to expire. This enables supply chains to be less costly and faster to respond to change.

"There’s an untapped opportunity for the pharmaceutical and life sciences sector to make use of visibility tools to make clinical trials faster and more cost effective," said Jonathan Blamey, VP Product Development, Life Sciences & Healthcare at DHL Supply Chain. "The main barriers to their introduction appear to come from the misconception that supply chain visibility is both costly to implement and difficult to use. In reality advances in technology have made this cost effective and by 2015 we believe that visibility within clinical trial supply chains will have become the norm, not the exception. We strongly encourage all life science firms to include visibility tools when planning their next clinical trial or programme but have seen the biggest potential when implemented across all studies."

To help companies consider the implications of the research for their businesses, DHL Supply Chain has developed a range of resources around the area of supply chain visibility technology in clinical trials and guidance on how to make adopting the technology easier. These can be received by registering for the study on the website {http://supplychain.dhl.com/clinicaltrials}

"We are investing in independent research and providing additional analysis as part of our commitment to helping our customers in the global healthcare industry succeed by providing compliant, specialist supply chain solutions," said Jonathan. "DHL Supply Chain has been in the healthcare sector longer than anyone else in the logistics industry and is the only third party logistics company providing integrated solutions in the clinical trials sector. In a complex and ever-changing market, our 15 years’ experience in the area allows us to provide flexible and cost effective solutions across the world."