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Increasing resilience and security of supply production post-COVID-19: from global to regional value chains? Case studies on medical and pharmaceutical products

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  • Grumiller, Jan
  • Grohs, Hannes
  • Reiner, Christian

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the fragility of medical product and pharmaceutical global value chains (GVCs). Against this background, debates on various policies to increase the resilience of these supply chains intensified. However, there is currently no consensus on which policies are required to ensure supply security for 'critical' or 'essential' products in the European Union (EU), and even the definition of these products is the subject of a debate. This report presents a detailed analysis of the medical products and pharmaceutical GVCs in order to foster our understanding of their vulnerabilities and to identify potentials for increasing their resilience. Given the large diversity of products within the medical and pharmaceutical sectors, the report presents a selection of three case studies on representative products for each of the two sectors/GVCs: (i) respirators, (ii) examination gloves and (iii) ventilators for medical products, and (a) penicillin (antibiotic), (b) paracetamol (analgesic), and (c) heparin (anticoagulant) for pharmaceuticals. The effects of COVID-19 on medical and pharmaceutical GVCs were distinct: most countries in the EU faced shortages of various critical medical products in early 2020, with negative effects on patients and health care workers. In contrast, COVID-19 induced shortages of pharmaceutical products were, so far and with a few exceptions, rare and with very limited negative effects for patients. Having said that, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted already existing and potential new vulnerabilities for various pharmaceutical products in the EU.

Suggested Citation

  • Grumiller, Jan & Grohs, Hannes & Reiner, Christian, 2021. "Increasing resilience and security of supply production post-COVID-19: from global to regional value chains? Case studies on medical and pharmaceutical products," Research Reports 12/2021, Austrian Foundation for Development Research (ÖFSE).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:oefser:122021
    DOI: 10.60637/2021-rr12
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Raphael Kaplinsky & Mike Morris, 2016. "Thinning and Thickening: Productive Sector Policies in The Era of Global Value Chains," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 28(4), pages 625-645, September.
    2. Helble, Matthias, 2012. "More trade for better health? International trade and tariffs on health products," WTO Staff Working Papers ERSD-2012-17, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    3. Gary Gereffi, 2020. "What does the COVID-19 pandemic teach us about global value chains? The case of medical supplies," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 3(3), pages 287-301, September.
    4. Busfield, Joan, 2020. "Documenting the financialisation of the pharmaceutical industry," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
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    Cited by:

    1. Vogler, Sabine, 2024. "Tackling medicine shortages during and after the COVID-19 pandemic: Compilation of governmental policy measures and developments in 38 countries," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).

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