Governments may onshore part of biopharma supply chain, but it won't be easy: Panel

Fiona Lam

Published Mon, Oct 12, 2020 · 09:50 PM

Singapore

THE Covid-19 pandemic has exposed vulnerabilities in the global biopharmaceutical supply chain, raised renewed concerns over the offshoring of facilities to Asia and highlighted the heavy reliance on large producer markets - such as China and India - for critical medical supplies.

Now, policymakers around the world will thus be compelled to review their supply chain strategy and management so they can ensure supply and mitigate risks.

That's according to panellists at a session moderated by Doreen Chia, GIC's managing director for public equities and co-chair of the healthcare business group, during the Singapore sovereign wealth fund's annual thought leadership event, GIC Insights.

On the panel were Marc Casper, chairman, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of US life sciences and medical technology giant Thermo Fisher Scientific; Chris Chen, CEO of WuXi Biologics, China's largest drugs development and manufacturing services provider; and Erez Israeli, CEO of India-based pharmaceutical behemoth Dr Reddy'…