The pharmaceutical industry is consistently seeking to improve, and now, with the rise of advanced artificial intelligence (AI), the industry has pursued leveraging this technology to revolutionise supply chain management by increasing efficiency, improving quality and accelerating innovative supply chain solutions.
If successful, the global economic impact of AI could boost GDP by $7–10 trillion by enhancing productivity and streamlining processes. This could translate to an estimated $60–$110 billion in annual economic value in pharmaceuticals.
While the concept of AI has been around for over a decade, AI with human-like intelligence has transformed industries worldwide, providing endless possibilities.
In this article, I explore whether or not AI has achieved the promising potential it offers to the pharmaceutical industry in its management of complex global supply chains, and how this could be enhanced.
Sophisticated Quality Control
Pharmaceutical packaging plays a crucial role in safeguarding critical medicines making quality control a vital component of the supply chain. These regulations vary from country to country, adding a layer of complexity to a critical global supply chain.
In the UK, regulations require that all packaging includes clear, understandable patient informational leaflets (PILs) and detailed information including the product name, dosage, chemical composition and safety information. Ensuring packaging adheres to these requirements is a time- consuming and important task that can be optimised significantly through the use of advanced AI tools.
Innovations such as natural language processing (NLP) and machine vision, exemplified by technologies like the Cognex In-Sight system, are transforming quality control by ensuring accuracy and clarity while identifying even the smallest but essential packaging errors.
This system also verifies compliance with safety standards, checking for unique identifiers to prevent counterfeiting and anti- tampering devices to prevent contamination and misuse, especially by children.
AI has notably improved quality control for advanced packaging types like pre-filled syringes and auto-injectors. For example, Amgen’s integration of AI in their quality control procedures detects air bubbles in viscous injectables and has led to a 70% increase in particle detection and a 60% decrease in false positives.
Overall, the integration of AI technologies like NLP and machine vision is significantly reinforcing the quality control processes in pharmaceutical packaging, thereby improving efficiency and productivity. But at the same time, patient safety is being enhanced.
Responsiveness and Transparency
In a global market, transparency substantially enhances supply chain risk management and improves access to safe, quality healthcare. In reality, this is often difficult to achieve, but advanced technological innovation has removed common pitfalls and barriers to achieving this transparency.
Blockchain technology provides a secure, immutable ledger that tracks every transaction of pharmaceutical products, boosting transparency and safeguarding against counterfeit medicines. Meanwhile, AI enables real-time monitoring of the supply chain, helping to prevent disruptions, predict market shifts, and detect counterfeit products through smart packaging and anomaly detection.
