He also talks about the strengths of Hungarian providers and how the company’s 3PL+ service helps pharmaceutical manufacturers build their operations around a specialist partner.

Pharmaceutical logistics is playing an increasingly strategic role in international healthcare. What has made it more than warehousing and transportation?

László Dene: The pharmaceutical supply chain has undergone a fundamental transformation in recent years. The pandemic, geopolitical uncertainty, shortages of raw materials and medicines, and the geographic concentration of manufacturing capacity have made one thing clear: Security of pharmaceutical supply is a strategic issue. Internationally, the trend is clearly toward more flexible, more digitalized supply chains with controls at multiple points.

Pharmaceutical manufacturers are therefore increasingly looking for a strategic partner rather than simply a logistics provider. They need a company that can handle inventory management, quality assurance, specialized packaging, serialization and IT integration alongside storage and transportation.

Outsourcing is increasingly about managing complexity: Manufacturers can focus on their products and markets while an expert partner handles some or all of their supply chain operations.

What distinguishes Hungarian pharmaceutical logistics providers from multinational operators, and what opportunities do they have internationally?

LD: Flexibility is one of Hungary’s key competitive advantages. A well-organized domestic provider can meet the same stringent European good distribution practice and good manufacturing practice requirements as the largest international operators while responding more quickly and flexibly to individual customer needs.

In the international market, however, capacity alone is no longer enough. In the coming years, the most competitive providers will be those offering technology, pharmaceutical expertise and comprehensive service capabilities. Competitive advantage depends on the business value a warehouse creates, rather than simply its size.

What will shape the future of Hungarian pharmaceutical logistics over the next few years?

LD: Automation, digitalization and supply chain resilience will certainly be decisive. At the same time, the so-called asset-free operating model is becoming increasingly important: Pharmaceutical manufacturers do not necessarily benefit from maintaining their own infrastructure, warehouses and full operational organizations in every market.

It can be much more efficient to work with a specialist partner that provides established infrastructure, technology, regulatory expertise and a local market presence.

This shift is also reshaping the role of pharmaceutical wholesalers. The most valuable partners will be companies that can support a product throughout its entire life cycle in the market, beyond its physical movement.

What advantages does Hungaropharma offer in this area?

LD: One of the Hungaropharma Group’s greatest strengths is its combination of nearly eight decades of pharmaceutical wholesaling experience with logistics and technology capabilities that meet European standards. Our fully automated BLK3 complex at the Budapest Logistics Center has a capacity of 17,000 pallets, providing the infrastructure for sophisticated services that meet pharmaceutical quality requirements.

Building on this foundation, our third-party logistics, or 3PL, service supports the entire pharmaceutical supply chain, from specialized storage and inventory management to quality assurance, serialization, packaging and distribution.

Our capabilities extend further, however. We can also provide partners with pre-wholesale services, order and inventory management, tender management, regulatory and pharmacovigilance support, and services related to commercial and market representation.

Our objective therefore goes well beyond getting a pharmaceutical manufacturer’s product from point A to point B. We offer stable, scalable infrastructure backed by a high level of professional expertise, on which an international pharmaceutical company can confidently build a substantial part of its Hungarian or regional operations.

Ultimately, value in the pharmaceutical industry comes from the expertise, technology and business security behind warehouse capacity. That is how we see our role: as a long-term strategic partner for pharmaceutical companies.

This article was first published in Pharma Industry Review 2026 / 2.