Pharmaceutical executives are near unanimous (with 68% strongly agreeing and 31% somewhat agreeing) in their concern about a marked increase in theft, fraud, and/or attacks in the pharmaceutical supply chain, according to a new survey from BioPharma Dive’s studioID and Tive, the global leader in supply chain and logistics visibility technology. 

The 115 survey respondents — comprised primarily of pharmaceutical, biologics, and medical device manufacturers — identified inadequate real-time visibility into the location and condition of goods as a critical vulnerability, contributing to incidents such as product tampering, theft, and compromised cold chain integrity. This is of particular concern as therapies that require ultracold temperatures ranging from -70°C to -196°C account for an ever-larger portion of shipments.

A substantial 92% of respondents agree that the level of risk in pharma/life sciences supply chains has increased over the past two years, and 94% expect risk to be even higher two years from now. 

Those beliefs stem from a steady stream of reports on in-transit security incidents. The United States, for example, has seen a significant increase in hijacked shipments, says Alex Guillen, global SME, life science and pharma at Tive. In many cases, bad actors are hacking systems and pushing out new addresses to drivers — who make the deliveries without knowing anything is amiss. “There is more and more sophistication in the way that the systems are being hacked,” he says. 

In the face of such events, many pharma supply chain executives are taking steps to increase visibility into the location and condition of goods in transit — and are seeing results. Companies that have implemented real-time shipment visibility and condition monitoring are seeing several benefits to their supply chain operations, including improved on-time, in-full delivery rates (79%) and the ability to identify routing or condition issues in real time (76%). 

Other key findings of the research:

• Multiple issues face pharma goods in transit. The most common in-transit security issues are product tampering and repackaging (57%), damage due to mishandling or improper temperature control (44%), in-transit theft/fraud (35%), and diversion or misrouted shipments (30%).
• In-transit security is subject to multiple risks. The most significant sources of risk are inadequate security processes (43%), maintaining cold chain integrity from manufacturing to end delivery (42%) and cyberattacks (35%). 
• Pharma needs greater visibility into the location and condition of their sensitive goods. Nearly half (49%) of respondents say inadequate visibility into shipment conditions is their company’s biggest visibility challenge, followed closely by inaccurate or limited visibility data from transportation providers (47%). 
• Improving processes and visibility are top risk-reduction strategies. Respondents cited the most effective strategies to reduce risk as updating security processes (71%), improving supply chain visibility (70%), strengthening oversight of supplier compliance (53%) and consolidating transportation providers (48%).
• Pharma execs are investing in in-transit visibility. Real-time visibility software and trackers (83%) are most widely used, however, many report using legacy methods such as email (80%), document-based tracking (77%), and phone calls (75%) — all of which are prone to errors and delays.

Pharma executives responding to the survey were nearly unanimous (96%) that the ability to independently verify the accuracy of supplier-provided visibility data is critical to ensure a secure supply chain, and (93%) say this independently verified data has improved relationships with their customers.

“Independent verification enables pharma companies to get an accurate, end-to-end view of shipments in transit, while partners can only account for their portion,” Tive’s Guillen explains. “The key part is to pair real-time visibility with a control tower so we can intervene to prevent potential damage or loss of the shipment.”

The survey report details the steps those in the pharma supply chain are taking to mitigate the increasing risk of goods in transit, as well as the top criteria they use to guide investment decisions. 

Survey Methodology

Tive collaborated with Supply Chain Dive’s studioID to conduct the online survey in September, 2024, receiving responses from 115 respondents in transportation/logistics, quality control, operations, supply chain management/procurement and related roles, primarily at pharmaceutical, biologics, and medical device manufacturers. They responded to a series of multiple-choice questions about their assessment of risk of goods in transit in the pharmaceutical supply chain, as well as their beliefs and experiences in mitigating risk through measures to improve visibility.