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- Service that Sets Us Apart extremely prevalent last year – between new strains of COVID-19, Influenza, RSV, and the common cold, and we witnessed other makers of antiseptics, cough and cold medicines not able to keep up with demand.” Many consumers, he noted, lost faith in drug companies as a result.

Bajaj Medical’s products are made in the U.S., a factor the company said helped them to fill all orders on time and in full. Other companies, he noted, were not as capable and experienced significant fulfillment issues. “The key lesson of 2022 was supply chain hardening. This year, companies will need to work hard to gain back consumer trust,” Chakroborty said.

Kikuchi pointed out that many important supply chain lessons were learned during this period but said the most important is that even though we can learn from the past, we still cannot predict the future. “We have implemented many new processes to protect ourselves against the uncertain supply chain issues, and yet our industry still had to manage through drug shortages due to a stronger than expected flu season,” he said.

Adjustments are needed

The metrics of the current business model remain a top concern for generics companies, many of whom say changes are a must for them to remain in business. “Three groups dominate the buy side but it is not uncommon to have 10, 12 and even 15 competitors on the sell side,” Dillaway said. If this model is allowed to remain, generics companies will continue to struggle, he added.

“In the meantime, Ascend will continue to take a logical, ethical approach to the business. We will not follow the crowd off the bridge, and we will not make decisions that may benefit the short term but harm the long term,” Dillaway said. “In my experience being an honest partner is the best way to add value to both your company and your customers.”

For generics to excel in 2023, the industry needs to find a healthy balance of meeting the increasing needs of the nation’s drug supply with a reasonable and sustainable approach from wholesaler and retailer partners that ultimately control if and how that product makes its way to patients, Dillaway added.

One of the biggest disappointments of this past year, noted Kikuchi, was the continued perception that the problem with our healthcare system is generic drug pricing. “The truth is that generics continue to be one of the most affordable, and arguably, the best value, in our healthcare system,” Kikuchi said. “I get frustrated when I see claims and commentary that lump generics manufacturers in with big pharma companies and drug originators.”

Also, he added, there continues to be misperceptions about drug quality, especially with foreign-based companies. “Hopefully, that will change in the coming years,” he said.

Feeling seen

Another issue brought to light from the events of the past year is that generics companies are often underappreciated for the critical work they collectively do.

“The industry needs to recognize the value generic drugs bring and work together to solve these issues or risk living with a much weaker generic alternative to high prices,” said Dillaway. “We need to shore up the supply chain on components and API so that we can do what we do best -- make quality medicines that help people stay or get healthy and save them money in the process,” said Dillaway.

McMahon believes generics companies should be heralded for what they do and looked to as part of the solution for our nation’s health care system. “I would like to see the industry recognize the critical work we do in collectively producing nearly 90% of the nation’s drug supply, saving, sustaining, and improving lives of tens of millions of Americans, and more often than not for just pennies per pill.” dsn