Impact pathways: improving medicine access through cross-national stockpiling

Purpose: Pressure to address drug shortages is increasing, and calls for cross-national stockpiling solutions are on the rise. This paper argues that cross-national stockpiling presents an important opportunity for operations and supply chain management (OSCM) research to help improve medicine access in the short- and long-term. Design/methodology/approach: To substantiate our claims for future research, we conducted an empirical analysis of shortage co-occurrence on twelve EU member-states, reviewed practice reports and academic literature, and held extensive discussions with pharmaceutical supply chain stakeholders. Findings: We show that the potential for cross-national stockpiling is unmistakably there and that, although OSCM research has touched upon important facets of cross-national stockpiling, many open questions still require novel research. Originality/value: We present opportunities for impactful research along various dimensions, including understanding barriers and stakeholder behavior, quantifying cost-effectiveness and potential knock-on effects, analyzing the positive and negative implications of product standardization and determining novel equitable mechanisms for allocation and financing cross-national stockpiles.