Pharma supply chains are performing, but not yet optimised

The LogiPharma Playbook: 2026 Supply Chain & Logistics Insights is prepared and released by LogiPharma Insights in partnership with Blue Yonder, GXO, project44, tulanā, and TraceLink. The report is a comprehensive look at where the pharmaceutical supply chain stands today and what leaders must do next to build genuine, future-ready resilience.

Released in Vienna during the 26th edition of LogiPharma, the report finds that pharmaceutical supply chain leaders are navigating an inflection point, where solid operational foundations meet growing pressure from AI ambition, systemic risk, and the urgent need for smarter digital collaboration.

The headline message from the report is both reassuring and cautionary: pharma supply chains are functional and in many cases performing well, but they are not yet optimised. Leaders are no longer struggling with operational basics. Their challenge now is the transition from reactive to proactive decision-making.

The playbook draws on both survey data and expert commentary from senior voices across the industry from Europe.

Key findings
Five key findings stand out. First, hospital supply capabilities are established but constrained, with 42% of respondents rating consignment inventory management as performing "as it should." Second, AI adoption is progressing but remains cautious; 36% are using AI in isolated or experimental use cases, while 47% are exploring it as part of their roadmap. Third, risk is no longer singular but systemic, with 62% citing geopolitical and tariff-related disruption as their top concern, followed closely by carbon emissions (60%) and regulatory compliance (57%). Fourth, agentic AI is promising but not yet proven, with 52% of respondents remaining neutral or uncertain about its ability to meaningfully improve disruption prediction. Fifth, governance, not technology, is the leading barrier to AI adoption, cited by 38% as their biggest constraint, ahead of cybersecurity concerns (21%) and budget limitations (18%).

Building resilient hospital networks
The report's opening chapter examines the state of hospital supply chains, and the picture is one of a sector operating solidly but held back by fragmented data and limited visibility. Cost reduction emerged as the top priority for 58% of respondents, while faster and more reliable delivery ranked second at 43%.

Caryn Ellington, Vice President of Sector Development, Healthcare at GXO Logistics, put it plainly: "Healthcare networks remain fundamentally reactive. When demand is rebuilt in silos, volatility becomes the norm and the system absorbs shocks instead of anticipating them. Resilience must shift from an emergency response mindset to a proactive, measurable design principle."

"Digital integration with hospitals is minimal; the ecosystem is highly fragmented, lacking standards or industry platforms that would allow manufacturers or wholesalers to integrate supply chains at a reasonable cost."
David Ruiz, MSD

GXO is a pure-play contract logistics provider operating in more than 27 countries. In healthcare, GXO implements solutions that meet the highest standards to ensure patient safety and operational reliability, leveraging advanced technologies.

David Ruiz, Digital Supply Chain Strategy and Execution global leader at MSD highlighted the structural nature of the problem: "Digital integration with hospitals is minimal; the ecosystem is highly fragmented, lacking standards or industry platforms that would allow manufacturers or wholesalers to integrate supply chains at a reasonable cost."

The chapter concludes that resilience at the hospital level will increasingly depend on how information flows, how partners collaborate, and how quickly insights translate into action.

From reactive to predictive: the promise of agentic AI
The second chapter dives into the industry's growing interest in agentic AI. It is about systems capable not just of analysing disruption, but of acting on it in real time. The areas where interest is strongest are demand planning and forecasting (59%), inventory optimisation (57%), and logistics and transportation orchestration (49%).

Yet confidence remains measured. Shabbir Dahod, President and CEO of TraceLink, argued that this hesitation is not about AI's potential but about the infrastructure supporting it: "That lack of confidence is not about the promise of AI; it is about the lack of digital infrastructure required to apply it effectively."

"AI can't predict or optimise what it can't see. The companies that will get real results are the ones starting with strong visibility foundations."
Marvin Schuster, project44

Max Barkhausen, CTO of tulanā, offered a pointed architectural distinction: "An LLM-based agent cannot derive a provably optimal inventory policy or production schedule. The correct architecture uses specialised mathematical models to generate optimal plans, then deploys agents to orchestrate execution." His message – math first, agents second – is one of the report's most actionable takeaways.

Marvin Schuster, Strategic Account Executive for Pharma at project44 reinforced the data dependency at the heart of AI's promise: "AI can't predict or optimise what it can't see. The companies that will get real results are the ones starting with strong visibility foundations."

Digital maturity and the collaboration gap
The third chapter focuses on how pharma organisations are collaborating with contract manufacturing organisations (CMOs) and managing ESG and supply chain risk. The findings reveal an industry in transition: 42% of respondents said collaboration with CMOs is still largely manual but moving toward digital approaches, while only 32% reported that it is already largely digitalised.

Shirell James, VP of Solution Strategy at Blue Yonder, noted: "We still see a lot of point-to-point solutions for collaboration instead of a true network that connects everyone together, and without industry-wide standardisation we will continue to struggle to gain adoption with digital solutions."

The ESG picture adds further complexity. With geopolitical risks (62%), carbon emissions (60%), and regulatory compliance (57%) all ranking as critical, the report makes clear that pharma supply chains must now manage multiple, overlapping pressures simultaneously rather than planning around a single dominant risk.

"We still see a lot of point-to-point solutions for collaboration instead of a true network that connects everyone together, and without industry-wide standardisation we will continue to struggle to gain adoption with digital solutions."
Shirell James, Blue Yonder

Key suggestions
The playbook closes with a clear-eyed assessment: the next phase of supply chain resilience will not come from incremental efficiency gains, but from connecting data to decisions at speed and at scale. The report urges leaders to invest in visibility before velocity, intelligence before automation, and trust before autonomy.

Three concrete suggestions are offered. First, shift from operational stability to predictive control by creating a trusted, real-time single source of truth across hospital networks. Second, elevate digital collaboration by standardising data-sharing with CMOs and embedding structured governance models that bring ESG, geopolitical and compliance risk management into one connected decision framework. Third, build trust frameworks before scaling agentic AI. It suggests that organisations must invest heavily in compliance guardrails, explainability, and cybersecurity as in the algorithms themselves.

The 2026 LogiPharma Playbook is ultimately a document about readiness; not for the technology of tomorrow, but for the governance, data infrastructure, and collaborative intelligence that will determine which organisations are positioned to lead when that technology fully arrives.