This paper focuses on the analytical properties of the solutions to the continuity equation with non local flow. Our driving examples are a supply chain model and an equation for the description of pedestrian flows. To this aim, we prove the well posedness of weak entropy solutions in a class of equations comprising these models. Then, under further regularity conditions, we prove the differentiability of solutions with respect to the initial datum and characterize this derivative. A necessary condition for the optimality of suitable integral functionals then follows.
