By Ed Silverman // June 1st, 2010 // 8:16 am
Three months ago, some enterprising thieves staged a daring theft by cutting a hole in the roof of an Eli Lilly warehouse and making off with all sorts of medicines. The made-for-TV moment focused attention on supply chain security and so here is another episode: 10 days ago, a trailer containing 15 pallets of Lupin Pharmaceuticals generic drugs was stolen in Memphis, Tenn.
Lupin never bothered to put an announcement on its website, but we have a copy of the letter sent to its wholesalers. The heist yielded a slew of generic cholesterol-lowering pills, namely generic Zocor and Mevacor, as well as generic Depakote, which is taken by epileptics and is sensitive to temperature, and the Cefadroxil antibiotic.
There is nothing sensational about a stolen trailer, of course, particiularly from Memphis, which is a big hub for Federal Express shipments. But the theft underscores a growing problem for drugmakers. Last year, there were 46 such thefts worth $184 million, up from $41 million in 2007, according to FreightWatch International, a logistics security provider that tracks commodity thefts.
Of course, drugmakers fear the bad publicity over such heists, because they undermine confidence in the supply chain - stolen meds, particularly, low-cost generics, are likely to wind up on the Internet or used for counterfeiting. This may explain why Lupin notified its distributors, but not the public. Meanwhile, though, someone may be swallowing one of those generic Depakote pills right now, unaware that the meds were stolen off the back of a truck.
