{"id":12986,"date":"2016-11-04T17:26:31","date_gmt":"2016-11-04T21:26:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/big-pharmas-big-burden-in-the-climate-fight-managing-vaccine-and-pharmaceutical-supply-chain-in-the-midst-of-uncertain-disease-prol"},"modified":"2016-11-04T17:26:31","modified_gmt":"2016-11-04T21:26:31","slug":"big-pharmas-big-burden-in-the-climate-fight-managing-supply-chain-in-the-midst-of-uncertain-disease-proliferation","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/big-pharmas-big-burden-in-the-climate-fight-managing-supply-chain-in-the-midst-of-uncertain-disease-proliferation\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Pharma\u2019s Big Burden in the Climate Fight: Managing Supply Chain in the Midst of Uncertain Disease Proliferation"},"content":{"rendered":"

About Novartis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Novartis is a global healthcare company based in Switzerland with core competencies in pharmaceuticals, eye care (Alcon), and generics (Sandoz). In 2015, Novartis realized $49.4BN in net sales, with 18% of net sales ($8.9BN) in operating expenses for R&D.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

Improving Novartis\u2019 Response to Growing Disease Burden Requires R&D Investment and Review of Cold Chain and Manufacturing Processes<\/strong><\/p>\n

Central to the global health climate challenge faced by Novartis is its need for flexibility. Novartis must quickly respond to provide vaccines and pharmaceutical agents when demand fluctuates in the face of disease pandemics. Research, development, and manufacturing budgets for pandemics prove challenging to forecast because global disease burden resulting from climate change is, itself, difficult to ascertain. Fluctuating weather patterns are not expected to lead to occurrences of new<\/em> disease, but they are very likely to lead to disease proliferation in new geographical areas.[2]<\/a> Unfortunately, alterations in disease patterns will contribute to the extension of existing health burdens in poor regions and communities hit hardest by communicable disease. To respond adequately, Novartis\u2019 manufacturing processes require flexible capacity to accommodate new product development; for example, for drug-resistant malaria. Moreover, as the geographic regions affected grow, Novartis must ensure its vaccine distribution cold chain remains effectively and sustainably operated. Sustainable cold chain operation could mean, for example, use of energy efficient refrigeration units.<\/p>\n

Novartis currently has partnerships with the World Health Organization and other NGOs to support distribution of products like its anti-malarial Coartem. However, a large R&D challenge persists.[3]<\/a> The pharmaceutical industry\u2019s response to the Ebola, Zika, and H1N1 outbreaks of the past decade depleted firms\u2019 global health R&D budgets. In particular, when cases of H1N1 and Ebola turned out to be less widespread than anticipated, firms like Novartis realized little or no return on R&D investment.[4]<\/a> \u00a0Increased climate and global health uncertainty do little to incentivize Novartis to invest in pandemic drug discovery and development.<\/p>\n

Sustainable Business Practices Have Been Central to Novartis\u2019 Operations for Years, but More Needs to Be Done to Address Global Health Challenges<\/strong><\/p>\n

Novartis is a leader in the pharmaceutical industry for its approach to sustainable development. While Novartis\u2019 revenues more than doubled between 2000 and 2015, Novartis\u2019 emissions declined over the period.[5]<\/a> Most of this success is attributable to four factors: (1) reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, (2) responsible water management, (3) use of sustainable packaging, and (4) assessment of the supply chain environmental footprint. Novartis is also one of a handful of pharmaceutical companies that uses a carbon price to assess investment decisions.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

Beyond sustainability goals, Novartis consistently demonstrates broader corporate social responsibility goals. Novartis\u2019 Malaria Initiative is one of the industry\u2019s largest access-to-medicine programs, having provided more than 750 million treatments to-date to reduce malaria deaths.[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

Making Health Part of the Climate Debate: Aligning Incentives<\/strong><\/p>\n

Novartis and other players in the pharmaceutical industry have made commendable progress in supporting sustainable development. However, more needs to be done to prepare for the increased communicable disease burden that accompanies climate change. To this end, Novartis should consider:<\/p>\n

Improving collaborations with national and international organizations to understand pandemic\u00a0models and systems risks<\/strong>. Significant gaps exist in our understanding of the timing, geographic range, and severity of global pandemics. More study and collaboration with NGOs and public health organizations will be required to help Novartis understand and predict disease burden, and to support manufacturing and cold chain operational enhancements.<\/p>\n

Partnering with other pharmaceutical and public health entities to share costs.\u00a0<\/strong>Individual pharmaceutical companies should not be expected to take on the infectious disease response burden alone. Partnerships with biotechnology firms, other pharmaceutical companies, and governments should focus on payment and\/or cost sharing agreements that support continued drug discovery and innovation.<\/p>\n

Word Count: 794<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> “Corporate Responsibility Performance Report 2015 – Novartis.” N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Nov. 2016.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Thissen, Elvira. “Climate Change and Global Health The Role for Business.” N.p., Jan. 2011. Web. 4 Nov. 2016.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> The Novartis Malaria Initiative: Committed to Malaria Control and Elimination. N.p., 2016. Web. 4 Nov. 2016.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Moriarty-Siler, Erin. “Zika Vaccine? Why Big Pharma’s in No Hurry.” N.p., 10 Aug. 2016. Web. 4 Nov. 2016.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> “Corporate Responsibility Performance Report 2015 – Novartis.” N.p., 2015. Web. 4 Nov. 2016.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> “Novartis Malaria Initiative: Innovation.”\u00a0Novartis Malaria Initiative: Innovation<\/em>. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zika. Malaria. Dengue. West Nile. The common denominator? Vector-based transmission. Discussions on the manifestation and regulation of climate change typically center on reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and firm-level abatement costs. Rarely does the debate highlight the implication of rising temperatures on vector-borne disease burden and, importantly, the pharmaceutical industry\u2019s operating and business models.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2507,"featured_media":12987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[],"class_list":["post-12986","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/assignment\/climate-change-challenge-2016\/","yoast_head":"\nBig Pharma\u2019s Big Burden in the Climate Fight: Managing Supply Chain in the Midst of Uncertain Disease Proliferation - Technology and Operations Management<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/big-pharmas-big-burden-in-the-climate-fight-managing-supply-chain-in-the-midst-of-uncertain-disease-proliferation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Big Pharma\u2019s Big Burden in the Climate Fight: Managing Supply Chain in the Midst of Uncertain Disease Proliferation - Technology and Operations Management\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Zika. Malaria. Dengue. West Nile. The common denominator? Vector-based transmission. Discussions on the manifestation and regulation of climate change typically center on reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and firm-level abatement costs. Rarely does the debate highlight the implication of rising temperatures on vector-borne disease burden and, importantly, the pharmaceutical industry\u2019s operating and business models.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/big-pharmas-big-burden-in-the-climate-fight-managing-supply-chain-in-the-midst-of-uncertain-disease-proliferation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Technology and Operations Management\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/pharmaceuticals_0.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/big-pharmas-big-burden-in-the-climate-fight-managing-supply-chain-in-the-midst-of-uncertain-disease-proliferation\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/big-pharmas-big-burden-in-the-climate-fight-managing-supply-chain-in-the-midst-of-uncertain-disease-proliferation\/\",\"name\":\"Big Pharma\u2019s Big Burden in the Climate Fight: Managing Supply Chain in the Midst of Uncertain Disease Proliferation - Technology and Operations Management\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/big-pharmas-big-burden-in-the-climate-fight-managing-supply-chain-in-the-midst-of-uncertain-disease-proliferation\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/big-pharmas-big-burden-in-the-climate-fight-managing-supply-chain-in-the-midst-of-uncertain-disease-proliferation\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/pharmaceuticals_0.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-11-04T21:26:31+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/big-pharmas-big-burden-in-the-climate-fight-managing-supply-chain-in-the-midst-of-uncertain-disease-proliferation\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/big-pharmas-big-burden-in-the-climate-fight-managing-supply-chain-in-the-midst-of-uncertain-disease-proliferation\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/big-pharmas-big-burden-in-the-climate-fight-managing-supply-chain-in-the-midst-of-uncertain-disease-proliferation\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/pharmaceuticals_0.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/pharmaceuticals_0.jpg\",\"width\":700,\"height\":450},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/big-pharmas-big-burden-in-the-climate-fight-managing-supply-chain-in-the-midst-of-uncertain-disease-proliferation\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Submissions\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Big Pharma\u2019s Big Burden in the Climate Fight: Managing Supply Chain in the Midst of Uncertain Disease Proliferation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/\",\"name\":\"Technology and Operations Management\",\"description\":\"MBA Student Perspectives\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Big Pharma\u2019s Big Burden in the Climate Fight: Managing Supply Chain in the Midst of Uncertain Disease Proliferation - Technology and Operations Management","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/big-pharmas-big-burden-in-the-climate-fight-managing-supply-chain-in-the-midst-of-uncertain-disease-proliferation\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Big Pharma\u2019s Big Burden in the Climate Fight: Managing Supply Chain in the Midst of Uncertain Disease Proliferation - Technology and Operations Management","og_description":"Zika. Malaria. Dengue. West Nile. The common denominator? Vector-based transmission. Discussions on the manifestation and regulation of climate change typically center on reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and firm-level abatement costs. Rarely does the debate highlight the implication of rising temperatures on vector-borne disease burden and, importantly, the pharmaceutical industry\u2019s operating and business models.","og_url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/big-pharmas-big-burden-in-the-climate-fight-managing-supply-chain-in-the-midst-of-uncertain-disease-proliferation\/","og_site_name":"Technology and Operations Management","og_image":[{"width":700,"height":450,"url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/pharmaceuticals_0.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/big-pharmas-big-burden-in-the-climate-fight-managing-supply-chain-in-the-midst-of-uncertain-disease-proliferation\/","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/big-pharmas-big-burden-in-the-climate-fight-managing-supply-chain-in-the-midst-of-uncertain-disease-proliferation\/","name":"Big Pharma\u2019s Big Burden in the Climate Fight: Managing Supply Chain in the Midst of Uncertain Disease Proliferation - Technology and Operations Management","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/big-pharmas-big-burden-in-the-climate-fight-managing-supply-chain-in-the-midst-of-uncertain-disease-proliferation\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/big-pharmas-big-burden-in-the-climate-fight-managing-supply-chain-in-the-midst-of-uncertain-disease-proliferation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/pharmaceuticals_0.jpg","datePublished":"2016-11-04T21:26:31+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/big-pharmas-big-burden-in-the-climate-fight-managing-supply-chain-in-the-midst-of-uncertain-disease-proliferation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/big-pharmas-big-burden-in-the-climate-fight-managing-supply-chain-in-the-midst-of-uncertain-disease-proliferation\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/big-pharmas-big-burden-in-the-climate-fight-managing-supply-chain-in-the-midst-of-uncertain-disease-proliferation\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/pharmaceuticals_0.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/pharmaceuticals_0.jpg","width":700,"height":450},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/big-pharmas-big-burden-in-the-climate-fight-managing-supply-chain-in-the-midst-of-uncertain-disease-proliferation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Submissions","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Big Pharma\u2019s Big Burden in the Climate Fight: Managing Supply Chain in the Midst of Uncertain Disease Proliferation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/","name":"Technology and Operations Management","description":"MBA Student Perspectives","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/12986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/hck-submission"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2507"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/12986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}