Supply Chain

In today’s Pharma Pulse, major pharma players commit to most-favored-nation pricing, as DHL bolsters West Coast logistics for temperature-sensitive drugs.

A $1.5 million investment in its facilities located near Los Angeles International Airport strengthens DHL’s cold chain capacity, supporting pharmaceutical and healthcare shipments while advancing the company’s long-term health logistics strategy for the Americas.

The CDMO’s latest GMP-qualified line strengthens sterile manufacturing scalability.

In a discussion on global trade disruption, Thani Jambulingam, PhD, professor of food, pharma, and healthcare business at Saint Joseph’s University’s Erivan K. Haub School of Business, explains why pharmaceutical manufacturers must move beyond broad assumptions about tariffs and instead assess trade risk at the individual product level.

In today’s Pharma Pulse, House Republicans block a critical insurance subsidy extension, as new research highlights the oncology benefits of GLP-1s.

The acquisition strengthens CEVA’s global project logistics footprint, adding heavy-lift expertise, specialized engineering talent, and integrated solutions across key regions.

In today’s Pharma Pulse, Novartis and Moderna anchor a domestic manufacturing surge, while AI-driven biomarker discovery and physician well-being reshape the future of clinical care.

The pharmaceutical giant’s new 700,000-square-foot hub aims to onshore production of key medicines and strengthen the US drug supply chain.

AI-powered control towers and digital twins are emerging as essential tools to prevent costly supply chain failures and restore operational reliability.

Welcome to Pharma Pulse, a Pharmaceutical Commerce podcast where we bring you the latest insights shaping patient access, supply chain/logistics, data & tech, and healthcare innovation. I’m your host, and let’s get into today’s headlines.

As the FDA ends its phased exemption period for most trading partners, Two Labs’ Michael Rowe warns that DSCSA compliance is entering a far more complex era—one shaped by real-time traceability, digital record requirements, and a transition to a 12-digit NDC.

The entrepreneur urges the Trump administration to eliminate costly FDA generic drug fees, part of a broader push to scale domestic production, address shortages, and challenge PBM-driven pricing models.

The pharma distribution giant is scaling its third-party logistics network across Europe and the United States, adding cryogenic capacity, new facilities, and enhanced cold chain services, to support rising demand for specialty pharmaceuticals and global market access.

In today’s Pharma Pulse, a structured exercise program is proven to manage persistent long COVID symptoms, while Regeneron commits $150 million upfront to Tessera for a gene writing therapy targeting AATD, and Strive Pharmacy invests in a massive Arizona facility to boost national personalized medicine capacity.

The new 350,000 square-foot Mesa hub is expected to expand the compounding pharmacy’s national fulfillment and advanced compounding capabilities.

In today’s Pharma Pulse, a US-UK trade agreement mandates that the UK’s NICE agency raises its QALY threshold, increasing access to innovative drugs and much more.

In the final part of his Pharma Commerce video interview, Dan Walles, VP & GM, traceability and compliance solutions, TraceLink, notes that while DSCSA was designed for compliance, its first major business value is enabling targeted recalls.

The agreement includes exemptions for UK-produced drugs and medical devices from Section 232 tariffs, but mandates a significant change to the UK's NICE value appraisal framework.

In the second part of his Pharma Commerce video interview, Dan Walles, VP & GM, traceability and compliance solutions, TraceLink, describes how initial EPCIS setup issues quickly give way to operational challenges—missing data, mismatched shipments, and suspect product alerts. Dispensers that succeed are the ones developing repeatable, cross-partner exception workflows.

In the first part of his Pharma Commerce video interview, Dan Walles, VP & GM, traceability and compliance solutions, TraceLink, notes that full readiness hinges on integrating serialized data exchange into everyday operations, not simply meeting minimum compliance requirements.

In the third part of his Pharma Commerce video interview, Brad Stewart, BDO’s national life sciences co-leader, explains that while the FDA has not defined the specific level of manufacturing commitment needed to improve US supply chain resilience, applicants for the voucher should focus on linking unique or rare disease therapies—particularly in areas like oncology—with domestic onshoring efforts to move their applications to the top of the pile for selection.

A new Pharma Pulse briefing unpacks declining RSV vaccine durability in older adults, AstraZeneca’s $2 billion expansion of its US biologics manufacturing footprint, and the stock-shaking Phase III struggle affecting Novo Nordisk’s Alzheimer’s ambitions.

The pharmaceutical giant will be nearly doubling biologics production in Frederick and build a new clinical supply facility in Gaithersburg, projects that will create thousands of jobs, enhance US supply chain resilience, and advance its growing rare disease portfolio.

As part of its multi-billion-dollar investment, the company will be creating a unified, end-to-end manufacturing campus spanning biologics, gene therapy, solid dosage, and packaging operations.

In today’s Pharma Pulse, we dissect the resource drain of new pilot programs, the growing concerns over global supply chain dependency, and the simple tech intervention improving glycemic control.