The clinical-trial supplies (CTS) arm of UK-based specialist pharmaceuticals and services group Clinigen has signed an exclusive agreement with Accord Healthcare to administer and distribute the latter’s injectable oncology portfolio for trials across the European Union.
Under the agreement with Accord, the wholly owned marketing subsidiary of India’s Intas Pharmaceuticals, Clinigen CTS will act as the sole point of contact for enquiries, order receipts and distribution where manufacturers, contract research organisations, clinical-trial contract packagers and other specialist service providers are looking to source Accord products for clinical trials in the EU.
Timely fulfilment of product requests is of “utmost importance” and, as demand for the company’s portfolio has grown, “we decided that outsourcing distribution activities to a specialist in the clinical-trial supply space made sense both for Accord and for our customers,” explained James Burt, vice-president hospitals at Accord Healthcare.
Tracks from source
That Clinigen CTS sources products for clinical trials alone, and tracks them all the way from source to point of use, was a “critical consideration” for Accord in choosing a partner, Burt noted. “This reassured us that no Accord products will be diverted through other channels for alternative purposes,” he commented.
Accord Healthcare can leverage the manufacturing infrastructure of its parent, which comprises eight formulation manufacturing facilities in India and one apiece in the UK and Mexico.
The company markets more than 15 generic injectable cancer drugs in the EU, including carboplatin, docetaxel, irinotecan and oxaliplatin. It also has more than 50 injectable molecules in development or registration.
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As an “innovative, forward-thinking company”, Accords’s culture “very much mirrors that of Clinigen”, said Shaun Chilton, chief operating officer of the group’s Services division, which includes Clinigen CTS.
“Even before our new agreement with Accord, we have been receiving frequent requests for injectable cancer products,” Chilton added.
“We are now able to connect the manufacturing capacity of Intas with our own European distribution network, which gives us confidence that this will be an excellent working relationship on both sides.”
Formerly known as Keats Healthcare, Clinigen Clinical Trials Supply became part of the Clinigen group in 2010.
Clinigen CTS works in partnership with suppliers, pharmaceutical/biotechnology companies and contract research and manufacturing organisations to source commercial medicinal products exclusively for use customers’ clinical studies.
