A Study on Reverse Logistics and Its Impact on Supply Chain Efficiency with Reference to Pharmaceutical Wholesalers and Distributors

The role of a reverse logistics has recently become a very important part of a pharmaceutical supply chain as the number of expired drugs, recalls, damaged goods and the strict regulations regarding safety, and environmental responsibility grow. The paper examines how reverse logistics activities affect the effectiveness of pharmaceutical supply chains with a particular consideration on pharmaceutical wholesalers and distributors. The research design used was descriptive research design, in which primary data has been used based on the form of structured questionnaire conducted on 100 wholesalers and distributors, and secondly, secondary sources have been used by the researcher, including academic journals, textbooks, and industry and regulatory publications. Multiple regression analysis was carried out to analyze the collected data with the help of Jamovi statistical software.The findings of the study reveal that the regression model has a high explanatory power, as the R2 was 0.75, implying that pharmaceutical supply chain efficiency can be explained by 75 percent by the reverse logistics practices. Such essential dimensions as the effective expiry management, recall management, and safe disposal mechanisms have been detected to play an important role in improving the performance and regulatory compliance of the operations. Such negative interrelationship between intercept and reverse logistics also reflects that without efficient reverse logistic systems, the supply chain performance would be significantly impaired. On the whole, the results validate the idea that the strategic role of reverse logistics in the pharmaceutical supply chain is rather significant, and that the adoption of compact and technologically advanced reverse logistics models can enable the enhancement of the efficiency, compliance, and the long-term viability of the pharmaceutical supply chain by wholesalers and distributors.