title: Pharmaceutical supply chain risk assessment in Iran using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and simple additive weighting (SAW) methods.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Pharmaceutical supply chain is a significant component of the health system in supplying medicines, particularly in countries where main drugs are provided by local pharmaceutical companies. No previous studies exist assessing risks and disruptions in pharmaceutical companies while assessing the pharmaceutical supply chain. Any risks affecting the pharmaceutical companies could disrupt supply medicines and health system efficiency. The goal of this study was the risk assessment in pharmaceutical industry in Iran considering process's priority, hazard and probability of risks.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was carried out in 4 phases; risk identification through literature review, risk identification in Iranian pharmaceutical companies through interview with experts, risk analysis through a questionnaire and consultation with experts using group analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method and rating scale (RS) and risk evaluation of simple additive weighting (SAW) method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, 86 main risks were identified in the pharmaceutical supply chain with perspective of pharmaceutical companies classified in 11 classes. The majority of risks described in this study were related to the financial and economic category. Also financial management was found to be the most important factor for consideration.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although pharmaceutical industry and supply chain were affected by current political conditions in Iran during the study time, but half of total risks in the pharmaceutical supply chain were found to be internal risks which could be fixed by companies, internally. Likewise, political status and related risks forced companies to focus more on financial and supply management resulting in less attention to quality management.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacoeconomics and Pharmaceutical Administration, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, 1417614411 Iran.
authors.forename: Mona
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jaberidoost
authors.affiliation: Management Department, Allame Tabatabaei University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Laya
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Olfat
authors.affiliation: Food and Drug Organization, Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hosseini
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacoeconomics and Pharmaceutical Administration, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, 1417614411 Iran ; Department of Toxicology and Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Abbas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kebriaeezadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacoeconomics and Pharmaceutical Administration, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, 1417614411 Iran ; Department of Toxicology and Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abdollahi
authors.affiliation: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Science and Culture, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alaeddini
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacoeconomics and Pharmaceutical Administration, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, 1417614411 Iran ; Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Rassoul
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dinarvand
keywords: Iran pharmaceutical industry; Pharmaceutical supply chain; Risk assessment; Simple additive weighting (SAW) method; analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method
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