Medical supply chains are fragile in the best of times and COVID-19 will test their strength
The pipeline of pharmaceuticals is easily disrupted.
By Mark Daskin and Emily Tucker
In The News
FOX BUSINESS
APRIL 8, 2020
A test component shortage is the result of demand met with closed factories and operational factories that can not keep up with orders.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought medical supply chains into the spotlight. There has been a national shortage of testing kits, and at least one drug is already unavailable because of the outbreak, though it hasn’t been publicly named.
As operations engineers who focus on how these supply chains work, we know that even in the best of times, the U.S. drug supply chain is relatively fragile. Shortages regularly occur, and the COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to further disrupt a system that patients depend on, sometimes for life or death.
This article is republished from The Conversation. Read the full article.