25 January 2017 — Ashfield and Sharp Packaging Services, both part of UDG Healthcare plc, a global leader in providing outsourced healthcare services to pharmaceutical, device and biotech companies have announced that Diurnal Group plc (Diurnal), the specialty pharmaceutical company targeting patient needs in chronic endocrine (hormonal) diseases, has selected Ashfield to support Diurnal in building sales and medical infrastructure in major European territories and Sharp to provide services related to the commercial supply of Infacort®.
Ashfield provides sales teams, healthcare communications, strategic consulting, in-home and call centre nurse educators, medical information, pharmacovigilance (drug safety), and event management services to over 300 healthcare companies with offices in 22 countries including the United Kingdom, America, Germany, Spain and Japan.
Sharp Packaging Services is a leader in contract packaging and clinical trial supply services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Operating from nine state-of-the-art facilities across the United States and Europe, Sharp offers services in the fields of commercial packaging, clinical services, packaging and label design, IRT and serialisation solutions.
Mark Gibson, Director of International Business at Ashfield, said: “We are delighted to be working with Diurnal on launching their products across key European markets. We will be able to support Diurnal in successfully launching treatments for chronic endocrine diseases and ultimately be able to make a difference to the lives of these patients. Diurnal have fantastic products in their pipeline and we are looking forward to working with them.”
Dr Martin Whitaker, CEO of Diurnal, commented: “Following the submission of our regulatory application to the EMA for Infacort® and its subsequent validation, we are focused on pre-launch activities for this product in Europe. We are confident that the agreements with Ashfield and Sharp, both leading providers of outsourced commercialisation services to the pharmaceutical industry, will help ensure the prompt and effective market introduction of Infacort® following its anticipated approval in Europe.”
For more information please contact:
Hume Brophy
Conor Griffin, Alexia Faure, Alex Protsenko
DD +44 (0)20 7862 6481
udg@humebrophy.com
About Ashfield
Ashfield Commercial and Medical Services, part of UDG Healthcare plc, is a global leader in providing outsourced healthcare services to pharmaceutical, device and biotech companies. The company has 6,000 employees, operates in 22 countries across Europe, North America, South America and Asia and works with more than 250 companies, including all of the world’s top 25 pharmaceutical companies. Its mission is to partner with its clients, improving lives by helping healthcare professionals and patients get the medicines, knowledge and support they need.
Ashfield provides contract sales teams, customer service reps, medical science liaison officers, remote detailing, nurse educators, medical information, healthcare communications, market access, market research, training, event management, digital, and creative and pharmacovigilance services.
For more information, go to www.ashfieldhealthcare.com
About Sharp Packaging Services
Sharp Packaging Services is a global leader in contract packaging and clinical services. Operating from state-of-the-art facilities across the US and Europe, Sharp has built an international reputation for delivering cost-effective blister packaging, bottling, pouches and stick packs, compliance packaging, formulation and manufacturing services, label design and printing. Sharp is also a world leader in ‘Track and Trace’ serialisation services, which will require all prescription drugs to have a unique serial code for authentication and traceability.
For more information please go to: www.sharpservices.com
About UDG Healthcare plc:
UDG Healthcare plc (LSE: UDG) is a leading international partner of choice delivering commercial, clinical, communications and packaging services to the healthcare industry, employing almost 8,000 people with operations in 23 countries and delivering services in over 50 countries.
UDG Healthcare plc operates across three divisions: Ashfield, Sharp and Aquilant. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250.
For more information, please go to www.udghealthcare.com
About Diurnal Group plc
Founded in 2004, Diurnal is a UK-based specialty pharma company developing high quality products for the global market for the life-long treatment of chronic endocrine conditions, including Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia and Adrenal Insufficiency. Its expertise and innovative research activities focus on circadian-based endocrinology to yield novel product candidates in the rare and chronic endocrine disease arena.
For further information about Diurnal, please visit www.diurnal.co.uk
