The pharmaceutical market in the UK has been on the rise in the last ten years. The value of drugs dispensed in the UK by wholesalers reached a historical £58 billion in 2021, double the value of medicines sold in 2008. The number of pharmacists in the UK also increased by 20,000 in the last ten years, reaching over 66,000.
With the demand for drugs and recently for the COVID-19 vaccines, medical logistics in the UK have become even more critical in the health sector. While safety and regulations are necessary to follow, the timeliness of deliveries has become essential, especially when it comes to getting vaccines to the vaccination centres on time.
Projecting the statistics and outlook of health in the UK, the following variables would shape the drug delivery market by 2028:
1. Big Fat Checks
Obesity in the UK has seen a steep upward trend lately. From 1993 to date, the percentage of obese men has increased from 16% to 27% and of obese women from 16% to 29%.
Not only this, overweight people's percentage is over 35% as well. It simply means that the majority of the people living in the UK live with an unhealthy level of weight. Obesity is one of the reasons cholesterol reaches a dangerous level. The outcome is heart disease and strokes. Unfortunately, they are becoming common in the younger generation as well.
It is no surprise that Atorvastatin – the cholesterol-lowering drug – is outselling every other medicine in the UK and contributing to the extensive fat checks for the pharmaceutical companies manufacturing such products.
2. The Vaccine Orders
COVID-19 vaccinations have already reached the majority of UK residents. But more than 460 million vaccines are still on order, out of which about 300 million will be delivered this year.
The delivery is not the only part where temperature-controlled logistics comes in; the Government plans to store more than 200 million vaccines for future use. The enormous supply chain systems that follow all regulations typical of pharma logistics need to up their game. With such a vast number of vaccines coming in, the warehousing facilities and cold storage should have the capacity and level of professionalism to keep the vaccines stored safely until they are administered.
FET Logistics is one of the companies revolutionising the cold chain and pharmaceutical delivery service in the UK. With its contribution to delivering vaccines in the UK with proper safety mechanisms and compliance with all regulations, the drug delivery market of vaccines in the UK will be very different in 2028.
3. Controlled Drugs
When the pandemic hit the world, most companies in every industry with a small market share and few clients could not bear the human resources and overhead costs. Many companies changed their business models or filed for bankruptcy. Only the companies with a long-term vision to continue serving the industry as a going concern kept up with the changing environment.
Similarly, when the cheese was moved in the drug market in the UK, only the companies could operate cold chains and transport controlled substances (drugs and other products that need to be temperature-controlled and maintained at a specific atmospheric pressure).
4. New Technologies
New logistics technologies are already being tested to improve delivery times. During the pandemic, drones delivered COVID-19 vaccines in remote African areas. Similar technologies are bound to change the way medicines and medical products are being delivered.
Companies like FET Logistics, which have already improved the delivery times to the level where they deliver medical supplies in just one day, will adopt the new technologies and modern service delivery methods, changing the drug delivery game in 2028.
FET Logistics did not just survive the change; it led the shift to new avenues raising the bar of service quality. With such advances in upgrading technology and continuous improvement in responsiveness, the drug delivery market will have few competitors in 2028. Still, only the ones with the updated systems and professional staff will survive.