In an era of fragile supply chains and rising counterfeit risks, pharmacists are the unsung guardians of patient safety.
When most people think of pharmacists, they imagine someone behind a counter dispensing medication. But behind every medicine delivered to a hospital, health program, or remote clinic, there’s a network of expert pharmacists ensuring that each product is safe, effective, regulatory compliant and fit for use.
“Pharmacists are at the heart of ensuring access to essential health products worldwide. Their expertise and dedication are instrumental in our mission to deliver lifesaving health products to communities where it’s needed most.”
At Partnership for Supply Chain Management (PFSCM), pharmacists are embedded deep within the global supply chain, working to ensure quality, continuity, and care. This World Pharmacists Day, we spotlight Maite Barthel and Anastasia Panzi, two professionals whose expertise and dedication help deliver lifesaving health products to the people who need them most.
What do supply chain pharmacists actually do?
Pharmacists in health supply chains do not dispense medications – they ensure health products are usable by the time they reach the point of care. Their responsibilities include:
- Reviewing product specifications, quality, and regulatory compliance
- Ensuring compliance of the supplier
- Align with internal and international standards
- Verifying compliance of the manufacturing site and sometimes also batch data
- Ensuring temperature-sensitive goods stay within cold chain parameters
- Performing risk assessments and audits
- Leading recalls or corrective and preventive actions when needed
Every one of these actions helps mitigate risks and safeguards patient safety. A shipment kept within a cold chain, a supplier validated, or a batch document verified may be the difference between uninterrupted treatment and preventable harm.
The strategic value of pharmacists in the supply chain
At PFSCM, pharmacists are central to every stage of operations — from resource selection, procurement planning, and regulatory compliance to cold chain oversight and quality assurance.
What makes their role essential is not only technical competence but also the ability to translate regulatory frameworks into actionable safeguards. In an environment where the cost of quality failure is measured in lives, pharmacists help ensure that every product sourced, stored, and delivered is safe, effective, and fit for purpose.
Their role is more than technical; it is strategic. PFSCM’s pharmacists bring scientific depth and real-world insight, shaping resilient supply chains that help protect patients worldwide.
Pharmacists as quality stewards: Wholesale Distribution Authorization (WDA) and beyond
Operating under stringent regulatory frameworks such as the Wholesale Distribution Authorization (WDA), our pharmacists bring a deep understanding of Good Distribution Practice (GDP) and risk management.
Their responsibilities include:
- Validating supplier and manufacturer qualifications, ensuring they meet both international and country-specific regulatory standards
- Verifying compliance with internal quality protocols, including Stringent Regulatory Authority (SRA) and WHO-Listed Authority (WLA) regulatory authority approvals
- Reviewing Certificates of Analysis (CoAs) and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certifications to confirm product quality and consistency
- Maintaining full batch traceability and ensuring readiness for internal or external audits
- Monitoring and managing temperature excursions and quality deviations, with timely investigations and corrective actions
- Conducting post-shipment quality reviews and compliance assessments to ensure product integrity upon arrival at the final destination
These are not routine tasks – they’re pillars of trust and accountability that underpin the success of every health program we support.
Every temperature log reviewed, every batch document validated, and every audit led by our pharmacists contributes to a single outcome: safe health care for patients, whether they’re in a major hospital or a rural clinic.
Spotlight Maite Barthel – Upholding global standards in quality assurance
As a responsible pharmacist, my primary objective is to ensure adherence to the requirements set forth by the WHO Model Quality Assurance System (MQAS). This commitment is essential to guarantee that the pharmaceutical products provided are consistent in all aspects of manufacturing and quality with those marketed in the country of origin, thereby safeguarding patient health. Furthermore, in my capacity as a designated responsible person under the European Union’s Good Distribution Practice, I am dedicated to ensuring compliance with both the EU GDP and public service obligations. This includes maintaining stringent control over the distribution chain to uphold the quality and integrity of medicinal products throughout the supply chain.
Spotlight: Anastasia Panzi – Bridging science and delivery
As a Product Quality Assurance & Regulatory Officer at PFSCM, I ensure that health products moving through the global supply chain are safe, effective, and regulatory-compliant.
My work spans product qualification, regulatory compliance, and cold chain oversight, with one goal: to make sure every product -from diagnostics to essential medicines- delivered is safe, effective, and fit for purpose.
Shaping the future of global health distribution
The role of pharmacists in health supply chains is no longer a support function; it is a cornerstone of system resilience and patient safety.
As global health challenges evolve – from changing weather patterns to new pandemics – the strategic role of pharmacists in supply chains will only grow. At PFSCM, our commitment to pharmaceutical leadership enables us to navigate complex geographies and fragile environments.
We don’t just deliver health products — we ensure they are safe, effective, and fit for purpose when they reach the point of care. On World Pharmacists Day 2025, we recognize that the resilience of every health system is built on the reliability of its supply chain — and that reliability is safeguarded by pharmacists.
