Almac Adds Late Stage Customisation Suite to Assist Orphan Drug / Niche Product Launches into Europe

With a growing requirement to support our clients with their EU product launches, reduce stock holdings and provide greater flexibility with regional packs, Almac has added an additional dedicated Late Stage Customization Suite to the company’s commercial facilities.
 
Mark English, Distribution Manager at Almac explains, “Late stage customization involves working with the client, understanding their country launch requirements to develop an EU regional supply strategy. Grouping countries by language allowing for multilanguage packs to service multiple markets, with country specific information added at point of despatch, provides significant cost advantages. Working with products that are manufactured in very low volumes at, often, a very high cost means that solutions to minimise stock holding are of particular benefit.”
 
Historically the countries grouped together tended to be based on geographical proximity to ensure that distribution to the end user was as short as possible. However with modern shipping methods this is no longer necessarily the case. The main factors now tend to be which countries share a common language (e.g., UK/Ireland and Germany/Austria) and having at least one of the "Big five" (Germany, France, Spain, Italy & the UK) in each regional pack, meaning that smaller markets can be served when required without committing any stock for orders that may never arise.

Assembling regional packs results in one pack being available for as many as five markets, as country specific information is applied to the ‘Blue Box’ area as orders are received direct from pharmacies or hospitals. The addition of the dedicated Late Stage Customization Suite gives Almac the flexibility to process these orders immediately ensuring just-in-time delivery.