The Indian pharmaceutical industry has been at its peak for the last few years. For over a decade, the Indian pharmaceutical sector has evolved immensely from foreign medicinal supply to domestic supply. Thus, acknowledging recent reports, the potential of the Indian pharmaceutical industry is expected to reach $25 billion by 2025.
This is greatly aided by India’s well-organized and well-designed pharma distribution system. Drug distribution in India has seen a greater shift in the way distribution processes are now carried out. With respect to the supply of effective and useful medications, the medication must first pass through the drug safety laws and regulations before it can be distributed.
The distribution is primarily handled by drug manufacturing companies, from which the intermediates facilitate drugs to other intermediates, ultimately leading to the supply of drugs to the final class of consumers who use them.
The role of the distribution head in a pharmaceutical company
Every big or MNC pharma company has a distribution head who oversees the overall distribution process of the company. This position requires determining when the product is distributed, where it is distributed, and how much volume must be distributed. A distribution head’s primary role is in the logistics sector. Their work is to balance the pharma business by reducing costs and optimizing safety for a sufficient amount of availability to deliver the product quickly and cheaply.Another major key responsibility of the distribution head is to keep an account of buffer stock, also known as safety stock. Every pharmaceutical company establishes a buffer stock in advance to maintain a high level of stock and safety to provide better service. It is one of the critical elements in the pharmaceutical supply chain process, which is sometimes thought to be too difficult to manage against variables.
Current pharma distribution hubs in India
The traditional pharma distribution model of pharma companies is made up of a multi-echelon network. A multi-echelon network is a complex supply chain structural network that has many distribution points from the point of origin to the endpoint, the consumer. This includes the manufacturing unit as the origin, Carry & Forwarding Agents (CFA), depots, stockists, /distributors, wholesalers, retailers as intermediates, and the consumer as the final destination.
Hub services may differ depending on the user’s needs and demands. If a reputable company sells its drug, its products are likely to be distributed across India in different hub areas, which are divided into four Indian hub regions: north, south, east, and west.
The quantity of the products for every hub is decided by the distribution department of the manufacturing pharma company. Concerning small company distribution systems, only specifically mandated distributors are included in a limited or exclusive distribution network for selling products in a specific area as per the consumer needs.
How a pharma company operates its distribution system?
Setting up headquarters in various parts of India is the first step for a manufacturing pharmaceutical company to enter the chain of distributorship. The company could select a single or multiple headquarters as per the sales of the company.Every headquarter has an assigned CFA that is in charge of the number of goods that must be moved across a single state based on the distribution rate. The goods are transported to the stockist by the respective CFA of that state.
The stockist may be singular or multiple depending on the availability of stockists in a particular region who is willing for supplying the product to the end user.
Conclusion
Unibiotech Formulation is a well-known pharmaceutical company that manufactures pharmaceutical products. By developing and manufacturing affordable medicines in India, the company hopes to produce high-quality healthcare products. It also encourages entrepreneurs to start their own Franchise/PCD Pharma Company, which allows them to serve the Indian healthcare system while also earning a higher marginal profit.