Senior management of biopharma companies were more optimistic about the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on imports/exports in Q3 compared to Q1, according to respondents who completed GlobalData’s Pharmaceutical Trade and Supply Chain Survey, fielded in Q3 2020.

Fiona Barry at GlobalData comments: “Across all company types and regions, 92% of companies said COVID-19 poses a risk to their imports/exports. However, the severity of these concerns has decreased. Fewer companies in Q3 said the pandemic posed a ‘major’ risk to active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) or finished dose manufacturing.”

API manufacturing still remains a greater concern than finished dose due to the high volume of small molecule API produced in China and India for cost reasons.

Barry concludes: “The US Government has expressed concern about reliance on foreign API and is trying to move more manufacturing to the US. Geopolitical tensions are exacerbating US worries about API and raw material imports from China during the COVID-19 pandemic.”