Didier Combis of EuroAPI looks at why considering the API value chain can strengthen the global medicine supply chain
API supply chain resilience by design
Didier Combis of EuroAPI looks at why considering the API value chain can strengthen the global medicine supply chain
For decades , pharmaceutical companies have globalised their drug substance supply chains , looking for costoptimisation . In parallel , new chemical entities ( NCEs ) produced by chemical synthesis , including peptides and oligonucleotides , have been characterised by a steadily growing complexity accelerating the creation of sophisticated transnational supply lines .
These supply lines look today like jigsaws where China and India are gradually integrating larger pieces year after year . According to Indian statistics data base , one can easily see that the large Indian API producers were importing their chemical intermediates overwhelmingly from China in 2024 while also relying on China for nearly 70 % of its APIs , whereas Europe and the US are now importing off-patent APIs predominantly from China and India . 1
Figure 1 - Contradictory forces affecting the API value chain
20 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981