Transforming the pharma cold chain - key insights from LogiPharma US 2023

Shared design principles in pharma partnerships

In creating an enterprise-centric ecosystem, Samir and Martin emphasized the importance of identifying shared design principles. In the case of J&J and Controlant, the principles are:

* Focus J&J in-house capabilities on aspects of the ecosystem that are unique to J&J
* Leverage interconnectivity across the ecosystem through data and automation
* Reduce APIs and integrations directly
* Maximize technology and operational flexibility
* Focus on innovative, leading-edge capabilities in the ecosystem
* Build a real-time visibility, temperature monitoring and decision-making platform

Finding the right partner is crucial. “We knew we had to push the boundaries and blaze the trail,” said Samir. “We are at the center; we are making multiple connections with partners internally and externally and that has worked well for us.”

“We want to focus on establishing strategic partnerships and it starts with trust,” said Samir. “It builds over time after you make sure there are mutual principles that you share. We continue to evolve, and we are purely focused on, in our case, to make sure we stayed true to our purpose and there is a lot of focus around customer experience.”

The Aurora Platform powers pharma control towers

Part of the solution for J&J included integrating the Aurora Platform.

“Earlier this year, we launched our Aurora Platform, and it was a repurposing and restructuring in how we develop, how we explain and how we deliver the value inside an ecosystem,” said Martin.

Companies can achieve a zero-waste, end-to-end pharma supply chain with the Controlant Aurora Platform, validated re-usable loggers and innovative services. The platform provides automated visibility with real-time tracking, critical analytics, and cost-reducing operational services for quality, safety, and compliance.

“The Aurora Platform is where the core functionalities sit; any solution we engage in is centered in that,” said Martin. “A human control tower supplements the digital control tower we have; the platform offers numerous capabilities, including a single purpose view, where we can engage with customers without them having to log in.”

“These are tough problems to solve,” said Samir. “What we have found is that such partnerships and shared design principles allow us to solve these problems.

The key to better business outcomes in pharma

After the joint presentation, Martin offered a couple of key takeaways from the conference. The first was a focus on business outcomes; he said that while AI, machine learning and quantum computing are exciting developments, there needs to be a focus on the specific business outcomes that companies are trying to achieve.

“It’s really exciting with AI, but some of the digitization we are doing right now is literally digitizing pdf files that circulate in pharma companies attached to emails,” said Martin. “It’s not super sexy, it’s not AI, but that is what is going to create the foundation for them later in the journey and really leverage technology.”

Leveraging pharma partnerships

Martin’s second takeaway was leveraging partnerships and an ecosystem as the pharma supply chain is becoming more complex. “Technology moves really fast,” he said. “The old-fashioned response of “we’re going to create this solution ourselves” is changing; in my perspective, you need to leverage an ecosystem, you need to trust an ecosystem and create shared objectives and shared design principles and that’s how you multiply the effect of making those technologies work for you, instead of trying to do everything yourself, in-house.”

LogiPharma US allowed for countless engaging conversations with pharma supply chain leaders on stage and at booths. The Controlant team was so inspired by everyone they met who is as excited as we are about our mission to end waste in the pharma supply chain.