Valerie Bandy on Building Smarter Pharma Supply Chains

In this interview, Valerie Bandy, vice president of Pharmacy Solutions, Tecsys, discusses the complex operational realities pharmaceutical manufacturers must understand when building relationships with health systems and why a proactive, strategic approach to supply chain resilience is no longer optional.

Bandy emphasizes that health systems operate within layered decision-making structures. Every new vendor relationship requires qualification, contract negotiation, and regulatory alignment. For manufacturers, understanding this complexity is critical to forming partnerships that hold up under pressure.

Drawing on real-world experience, she highlights the propofol shortage as a cautionary tale about the dangers of sole-source contracting. Health systems that had pre-established secondary vendor relationships navigated the crisis far more smoothly than those forced to scramble. As Bandy puts it, "It's really more about being intentional about the vendors that they're having relationships with and building contracts with, so that they're really being more strategic and intentional about what it is they're purchasing versus just reacting to a crisis situation."

She also calls on manufacturers to think carefully about drug allocation during shortages, urging them to prioritize health systems based on actual patient need rather than purchasing volume alone. "They have to think outside the box of their own strategy and their own marketplace and think about the patient and the health system versus just putting band-aids on the situation when they have a disruption."

Ultimately, Bandy argues that manufacturers who invest in transparency, proactive communication, and contingency planning will be far better positioned as trusted, long-term partners to the health systems and patients they serve.