Image courtesy of Felix Mittermeier on Pixabay
The tensions facing the global supply chain have been building in the pharmaceutical industry since even before the pandemic began, said Apurva Saraf, CEO of privately-held Cosette Pharmaceuticals (South Plainfield, New Jersey), in a recent interview.
About five years ago, China, a central producer of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), began shutting down tens of thousands of factories as a result of environmental infractions.
After the SARS-CoV-2 virus emerged in Wuhan, additional factory closures constricted production further.
There was a “rolling effect” when the pandemic began in China and later spread to Italy and New York and New Jersey in the U.S. — all critical areas for the pharmaceutical industry, Saraf said.
Repeated stringent lockdown measures in countries such as China, Italy and India reduced the flow of dru…