Commercial Supply Chain Redesign

A rare disease biotech with fewer than 50 employees. The company had one dermatology product on the market. Supply chain was relatively simple but unconventional: a contract manufacturer, a contract packaging organization also doing shipping, and the manufacturer handling order-to-cash. Leadership asked SAGE to assess the supply chain for risks and improvement opportunities.

The executive team wanted to identify and close compliance gaps in supply chain policies and SOPs. They also wanted assurance the company would be inspection-ready for regulators and resilient to staff changes. During the assessment, it became clear the original supply chain design was not optimal, so SAGE was asked to conduct an end-to-end review.

Staff were stretched across multiple functions, with limited supply chain expertise after original team members left. Demand volumes were modest, so costs were highly scrutinized. Information was fragmented across vendors. Internal staff were spending more time on transactions than on managing overall supply chain performance.

SAGE began with a two-week assessment, collecting documentation and mapping the full product path from manufacturing through distribution. Workshops with stakeholders uncovered process and compliance gaps. The assessment identified policy and SOP needs, roles and responsibilities, and a preliminary schedule. At the same time, fundamental issues emerged:

• Shipping handled by a vendor without expertise in pick/pack/ship.

• Order-to-cash managed by the manufacturer rather than a qualified 3PL.

• Long order turnaround times and frequent errors.

• Understaffed internal team tied up in tactical work.

SAGE provided insights to the client. The client asked decided to redesign the downstream supply chain and asked us to help facilitate the transition.

The company implemented a qualified 3PL to handle shipping and order-to-cash, while redefining roles for the manufacturer and CPO. SAGE coordinated changes across partners, including serialization and compliance updates. All project costs were tracked and shared transparently. Internal staff moved from transactional work to supply chain oversight. The redesign was cost neutral on an ongoing basis, with one-time implementation costs of about $300K.

• Product Path-to-Patient model to visualize the full supply chain

• 3rd party selection framework assessing cost, service quality, and relationship fit

• Supply chain policy and SOP framework for compliance readiness

• Decision models to align stakeholders on key choices

• Smartsheet-based project plan and decision log

• Contract review highlights tailored for operations and legal teams

• Executive updates for senior leadership visibility

• Decision position summaries presenting balanced perspectives