Story | Capabilities
Supporting every step to Sarah: A journey in reverse
It’s a long way to the shop for a pharmaceutical
Every day, millions of people around the world visit a pharmacy to pick up a prescription. From urgent treatments to maintenance medications, the local drug store provides convenient access to countless pharmaceuticals that can put you on a path to better health. It seems simple enough, but the journey those products take to make it into your possession is more complex than most people would imagine.
It’s a lengthy and arduous process that requires seamless collaboration among various stakeholders across the healthcare spectrum, but Cencora is there every step of the way. At each stage, we provide guidance to help our partners navigate the landscape and avoid the pitfalls that get in the way. We work with a growing network of manufacturers, health systems, physician practices, pharmacies, and more to help those precious molecules being carefully crafted in the lab eventually find their way to the people whose lives may be improved by them.
Sarah's journey
Take Sarah for example. She’s trying to get her hypertension under control. Here she is picking up a new prescription to help her lower her blood pressure. Let’s check in on where she’s at in her healthcare journey and then retrace the steps it took to get Sarah this potentially life-changing medicine.
Picking up her prescribed medication
Sarah is about to embark on a new phase in her healthcare journey with the help of a new medicine her physician prescribed. She had been trying to manage her hypertension through proper diet and exercise, but her latest blood pressure readings clearly indicated it wasn’t enough.
Luckily, Sarah’s local drug store is a member of Good Neighbor Pharmacy, Cencora’s franchise for independent pharmacies, giving them access to comprehensive pharmacy solutions. This empowers their business with the tools and support they need to provide Sarah with the best care possible, from medication therapy management to adherence support.
Sarah is able to pick up her medicine, ask questions, and get personal guidance from a pharmacist who has the time to talk to her since they aren’t tied up with time-consuming, back-office tasks. It’s a smooth transaction that sets up Sarah for success.
But what made all this possible?
Getting her prescription and patient support
Before Sarah could pick up her pills, she had to get a prescription from her physician. The two of them had already discussed her condition, explored treatment options, and plotted out a course of action during previous visits. Now, it was time for pharmaceutical intervention, but it was more involved than simply handing over a written prescription.
Sarah needed to figure out if she was going to be able to afford the medication first. With the help of the product manufacturer’s patient support program administered by Cencora, the staff at the doctor’s office was able to help her navigate coverage options and tap into the appropriate financial assistance programs, based on where she lives and other eligibility criteria.
Through the patient support program, not only did Sarah learn about the financial assistance programs available to assist with the cost of her medication, but she also received patient adherence support to help her stay on track with her treatment plan. Our approach combines high tech with high touch, predicting non-adherence risks and addressing them through personalized communications that keep patients more engaged in their healthcare journey.
Transporting her medication to the pharmacy
Ahead of Sarah’s appointment with her physician, little did she know the medication supply was already en route to her pharmacy as part of the normal supply chain ordering by her pharmacy. It would arrive and be sorted before her prescription was even received. Thanks to our efficient inventory tracking and management tools, her medication would be in stock and in close proximity right when she needed it.
We deliver millions of pharmaceutical products each day to thousands of pharmacies and health systems worldwide from our strategically located distribution centers. Our innovative logistics capabilities help keep Sarah’s medication safe and secure from the moment we take possession of it until it gets to the pharmacy.
We provide efficient transport solutions, third-party logistics, order fulfillment services, and more to keep pharmaceuticals flowing smoothly on the road to their final destination. And even though Sarah’s medication doesn’t require it, we also offer specialty logistics like temperature-controlled storage and transportation to overcome the complex challenges that come along with more advanced therapies.
Storing and distributing her medication
Our wholesale and specialty distribution keeps Sarah’s medication continuously available behind the scenes before it gets loaded on the truck that will deliver it to her pharmacy. We have state-of-the-art distribution centers that leverage data and analytics to manage large quantities of brand and generic drugs, consumer products, hospital supplies, and more. This helps us maximize the accuracy of every order and deliver it as efficiently as possible.
Moreover, our distribution solutions are designed to make the pharmaceutical supply chain more resilient and reliable. Through ongoing innovation, we’ve developed predictive analytics to help forecast potential disruptions, like medication shortages and weather disasters, and adjust our operations to mitigate potential patient impact. Keeping the supply chain stable and secure is our top priority, so pharmacies and health systems can avoid running out of essential medicines, and Sarah has peace of mind that her treatment will proceed without interruption.
Getting her medication on the market
Before we can get Sarah’s medication into our distribution centers, it needs to go through a complex process to prepare it for mass market availability and a successful launch. We offer commercialization support to manufacturers before products are approved to enhance the accessibility and affordability of products like Sarah’s medicine. We work with our customers to understand all the relevant market dynamics, provide strategic consulting, and collaborate on reimbursement strategies, with the goal of helping their new medications become available to more patients globally.
The solutions we offer cover everything from CMC services and pharmacovigilance to channel strategy and health economics. By simplifying these complicated steps in the process, we’re able to help manufacturers accelerate their speed to market and help patients like Sarah access medications sooner.
Developing her medication and securing the required approvals
It all starts with a promising molecule. Long before any medicine goes to market, there’s an ambitious team with high hopes of helping patients like Sarah someday as they finetune their pharmaceutical breakthrough. However, the gap between creation and commercialization is vast. Extensive drug research and clinical development need to be completed to keep medications moving forward toward patients. Without proper clinical trial compliance and regulatory approvals, even the most revolutionary treatment won’t make it past this initial stage.
Because these first steps in the lifecycle of a new pharmaceutical are so important, we’re there at the very beginning to help pharmaceutical companies find their footing with our comprehensive suite of consulting services. By combining scientific expertise and global product development experience, we’re able to work with manufacturers to help build a solid foundation for their medicine’s success. We support them through clinical trials and help them overcome regulatory hurdles, instilling them with confidence through each successive step in the process that their new treatment is going to reach patients like Sarah as soon as possible.
