摘要：Pakistan’s pharmaceutical sector consists of nearly 400 companies but top100 companies handle 90 percent of the pharmaceutical business. The sectorincludes 30 multinational companies accounting for 50% of the business. Thecompetition with multi-nationals has played a positive role in managingforward logistics through good supply chain practices. Management of returnsis largely accommodated as a regulatory and customer service necessity andhandled as a market and sales activity. The reverse logistics (RL) process ifmanaged correctly can improve the efficiency of overall supply chain. Thisresearch found that medicines retrieved from the market often have residuallife and due to improper management lose their value while lying in salescenters. In some cases where return is due to damaged packing full marketvalue could be recovered. Donation of unexpired medicines to charitablehospitals can add to the corporate image. Proper management of RL will behelpful in ensuring security of supply chain and prevent infiltration ofcounterfeit medicines. Application of better inventory management throughRadio frequency identification (RFID) and other information technologyapplications will improve RL as well as overall supply chain. It has beenestimated that RL management could save at least 10% of the cost of presentreverse logistics estimated at nearly Rs 5 billion
