Q&A: How Manufacturers Can Prevent Drug Shortage Crises

Valerie Bandy, Tecsys, discusses how pharmaceutical manufacturers and health systems can work together to build more strategic, resilient drug supply chains.

Watch the 2-part video interview with Bandy:
Part 1: Valerie Bandy on Building Smarter Pharma Supply Chains

Part 2: Valerie Bandy on Reducing Drug Shortages Through Smarter Inventory Management

PT: How Should Manufacturers Think About Health System Roles in Supply Chain Strategy?

Bandy: Manufacturers must look at things from the health system's perspective. They're constantly balancing supply chain resilience against operational realities. Every new vendor relationship requires qualification, contract negotiation, and regulatory alignment specific to each drug and patient population.

The real lesson is that manufacturers are not invincible. Disruptions do happen, and how they support health systems through those moments matters enormously. Their goal should be building strong standing relationships with health system leaders and structuring contracts that genuinely reflect how those systems function.

What Should a Mid-Size Pharmaceutical Manufacturer Understand About Obligations to Health Systems?

The size of the company is largely irrelevant; what matters is the drug. Regardless of the size of the organization, if their product is meeting a need for a specific patient population or disease state, the expectations placed on them are the same. Clear, proactive communication with health system contacts is critical, particularly around any supply disruptions or technologies that can help health systems gain better visibility into their inventory.

At Tecsys, our pharmacy solution is designed to provide end-to-end visibility into where any drug is sitting at any given time, whether on a shelf or in automation. Manufacturers should be asking themselves whether their product is compatible with automated dispensing machines, where their disruption risks lie, and how they can mitigate those risks internally before they become a problem for the health system.

What Is the Biggest Operational Challenge on the Health System Side During a Shortage?

There is a significant reliance on manual workarounds. When a drug becomes unavailable, pharmacy teams may need to compound it themselves, and there is often delayed escalation, people can become somewhat desensitized to shortage alerts and default to reactive decision-making rather than executing a prepared plan.

Health systems need a tiered strategy: a prioritized list of critical drugs whose absence would seriously compromise patient care, paired with clearly defined contingency plans for each. The goal is to move away from hoarding behavior, ordering as much as possible the moment a shortage signal appears, toward a more calibrated response based on actual patient volume, existing inventory across all locations, and true clinical need.

How Should Manufacturers Think About Drug Allocation During a Shortage?

Allocation decisions should go well beyond raw data. A health system that rarely treats a particular disease state may not require a large allocation, even if their procurement team is anxious about coverage. Meanwhile, a system that manages dozens of those patients daily absolutely needs to be prioritized. Manufacturers need to understand what each health system is known for, what their patient population looks like, and what the absence of that drug would truly mean for care delivery.