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HDA Presents 2022 Distribution Management Award to AmerisourceBergen

March 07, 2022

AUSTIN, Texas — The Healthcare Distribution Alliance (HDA) honored AmerisourceBergen with the 2022 Distribution Management Award (DMA) in recognition of the company’s collaboration with multiple government and supply chain partners to enable small-practice provider access to the COVID-19 vaccine. The award was presented during the 2022 Distribution Management Conference and Expo in Austin, Texas.

The DMA annually recognizes HDA member companies’ efforts to enhance the efficiency, effectiveness and safety of the healthcare supply chain through innovative and successful trading partner initiatives. Winning companies are selected by the distributor and manufacturer member executives of the HDA Industry Relations Council.

“HDA commends AmerisourceBergen’s exceptional partnership with government and supply chain stakeholders during the country’s historic vaccination campaign. Their successful effort showcases how distributors continue to rise to the challenge of distributing critical vaccines and therapeutics in times of crisis while delivering vital, everyday medicines safely and efficiently,” said Perry Fri, HDA Executive Vice President of Industry Relations, Membership and Education; and COO, HDA Research Foundation. “HDA is proud to support distributors like AmerisourceBergen, who continue to develop successful industry-driven solutions that ultimately save lives.”

FDA’s emergency use authorization of the COVID-19 vaccine for younger age groups presented both great opportunity and considerable challenges for vaccine distribution. One such challenge came from a minimum order quantity (MOQ) on the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine that limited pediatricians and providers outside of large health networks from supporting the adolescent vaccination effort due to the relatively short shelf-lives of the vaccines.

AmerisourceBergen played a critical role in developing a smaller minimum order solution to enable greater distribution of the lifesaving COVID-19 vaccine. By leveraging existing relationships developed from distributing COVID-19 therapies, the company collaborated with multiple state departments of health, the manufacturer and U.S. government organizations to launch an innovative program that allowed them to redistribute smaller quantities of vaccines to states.

The program was launched in an already tumultuous supply chain environment and required adherence to strict requirements, such as the need for ultra-cold product shipping. The hard work and dedication of the AmerisourceBergen team, in conjunction with their partners, enabled more than 250,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccines to be delivered to providers who may not have been able to access this critical resource otherwise. The program also saved thousands of vaccine doses from going to waste.

Additionally, HDA recognized Apotex Corp and HyGen Pharmaceuticals as DMA merit finalists for their achievement in obtaining FDA approval to distribute varenicline in the U.S., fulfilling an urgent consumer need. After a recall left Americans across the country without access to a critical smoking cessation treatment, Apotex obtained permission from the FDA to allow HyGen Pharmaceuticals' distribution of Canadian-manufactured varenicline. This initiative provided a comparable product that was less expensive to consumers and addressed a shortage in the market.

AmerisourceBergen also received the DMA in August 2021 for their collaboration with manufacturer and dispensing trading partners during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Other DMA winners have included The MediLedger Project, a collaboration between five HDA member companies (including AmerisourceBergen), as well as Smith Drug Company, for their cloud-based predictive inventory management system. (The award was not presented in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.)