Success in pharmaceutical product launches hinges not just on regulatory approvals and market access, but increasingly on how efficiently and reliably a product reaches its end user.

Understanding the “last mile” from a distribution and supply chain perspective is essential to inform the strategic, operational, and tactical model for final product delivery. The last mile involves delivering a product from a manufacturer’s central or local distribution location to the point of dispense or use, and for novel therapies it must align the needs of patients and HCPs with product logistics and regulatory requirements.

Rather than treating the last mile as merely a logistics problem, a systematic approach transforms distribution complexity into strategic advantage. This white paper presents AIM’s four-step framework for last mile design, showing how structured stakeholder engagement and strategic analysis enable companies to build distribution models on validated insights rather than assumptions.