How can pharmaceutical companies and suppliers move beyond traditional paradigms in sourcing and procurement and advance more strategic partnerships to meet desired business goals? Leading industry experts share perspectives.

More collaborative and strategic partnerships are a win-win for pharmaceutical companies and their suppliers, but how do companies overcome challenges in realizing their potential? Organized by the Drug, Chemical & Associated Technologies Association (DCAT), DCAT Sharp Sourcing 2016, to be held Tuesday July 12 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, provides some answers.

Developed by the DCAT’s Supply Management Committee and the Education Committee’s Sharp Sourcing Supplier Program Task Force, Sharp Sourcing will feature specialized education forums for buyers and suppliers and joint sessions on supply chain optimization/CMO integration, right-first time metrics, and procurement analytics and supply risk management. The event will also feature a keynote address on how to foster innovation with your suppliers for a competitive advantage by award-winning entrepreneur and star of ABC’s Shark Tank Daymond John.

Of particular value are the Buyers’ and Suppliers’ Forums, specialized educational sessions that provide case studies and practical insight from leading pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies. The Buyers’ Forum is designed specifically for professionals involved in sourcing, procurement, supply management, and external manufacturing. It will feature three topics with roundtable discussions: Procurement’s influence in specification management; sustainable procurement; and supplier metrics: going beyond scorecards. Executives from Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, Biogen, and Eli Lilly and Company will provide insight.

In the Suppliers’ Forum, executives from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, Pfizer, PwC, and others will provide customer-centric perspectives for CDMOs, CMOs and suppliers on different aspects of supplier relationship management. Key topics to be addressed include: (1) managing supplier consolidation: (2) managing an integrated supply chain and network integration; (3) strategic partnerships/collaboration, including supplier innovation; (4) inter-supply cooperation/management with raw material suppliers, CDMOs, and CMOs; and (5) managing working capital requirements (i.e., payment terms, inventory holding, and other supply-related issues).

In the joint afternoon session, buyer and suppliers come together for presentations of common interest. J&J’s Janssen will kick off the joint afternoon session with a presentation on supply chain optimization and CMO integration that will provide insights on how to build collaborative external partnerships and optimize active pharmaceutical ingredient supply networks. A panel of leading industry experts, including executives from Pfizer and Teva, will then discuss how pharmaceutical companies and suppliers can partner and achieve operational excellence and meet desired metrics, such as right-first time, in the manufacture of drug substances and drug products. In the final presentation, Merck & Co. will discuss how to use value-based metrics to more effectively assess and mitigate supply risk.

Information on DCAT Sharp Sourcing 2016 including how to register, may be found here.