UDG Healthcare Announces a New Organizational Structure for Sales, Marketing & Medical Services to Better Serve Global Client Needs

Ashfield Commercial & Medical Services Integrates Eight Areas of Service

LONDON and IVYLAND, Pennsylvania, Feb. 3, 2014 /CNW/ - Leading global outsourced healthcare service provider, UDG Healthcare (formerly United Drug plc), today announces the integration of its sales, marketing and medical service offerings within one division to better meet the needs of pharmaceutical clients. In addition to delivering its global services more effectively, this integration meets the industry demand for greater flexibility, insight and innovation from service providers. The new division, Ashfield Commercial and Medical Services, combines eight areas of expertise under the Ashfield division umbrella, allowing the newly created cross-functional business approach to enhance current and future client engagements.

The eight areas of expertise within the Ashfield division are:  

• Ashfield Commercial
• Ashfield Clinical
• Ashfield Healthcare Communications
• Ashfield Meetings and Events
• Ashfield Insight and Performance
• Ashfield Pharmacovigilance
• Ashfield Market Access
• Ashfield Medical Information

These eight service areas include companies in 22 countries, bringing together many well-known industry names in a cross-functional business approach that will deliver more value to clients. This enables Ashfield to develop solutions that harness excellence across their areas of expertise and work in partnership with clients to ensure impact, effectiveness and efficiency. Some of the highly successful individual business brands that will be brought under the Ashfield brand include:  

• Ashfield - a contract service organization (North America, Europe & Japan)
• Pharmexx - a contract service organization (Canada, South America & Europe)
• Drug Safety Alliance (DSA) - a pharmacovigilance provider
• Synopia Rx - a market access solutions provider
• InforMed and Watermeadow - medical communications agencies
• Universal WorldEvents - a healthcare meetings and events provider

Although Ashfield is primarily known in the North American market for its sales teams, nurse educators and call centers, under this new organization and branding, Ashfield will solidify its position as an expert in outgoing and incoming transfer of information within the healthcare environment.

The Ashfield portfolio provides solutions throughout the product lifecycle. In the pre-launch phase services include managing investigator meetings and developing scientific communications, through to organizing advisory boards and conducting the market research required to develop brand strategy. Once products are approved, Ashfield provides marketing consultancy, designs and organizes launch conferences, develops market access and payer strategies, and implements sales force effectiveness programs to ensure launch success then delivers sales solutions via Ashfield's multi-channel field and call center services. In addition, Ashfield provides the clinical education, patient support programs and medical information services to ensure patients and healthcare professionals receive the information and support they need to improve patient outcome.

Mary Anne Greenberg, Regional President in North America for Ashfield Commercial & Medical Services commented: "This transformation of our business allows us to deliver more for the industry, healthcare professionals and patients through our combined expertise and insight, while retaining the ingenuity and energy for which our companies are known. We have always put our clients and customers first and uniting these businesses in one division will help us address their challenges even more effectively."

Because of its breadth and depth of experience across many specialist areas throughout the world and its collaborative culture, Ashfield is able to create a synergy that delivers more than the sum of the parts, thereby bringing greater value to its pharmaceutical client and clients' customers, healthcare professionals and patients.

"This integration across the Ashfield division is a response to the major change our clients' businesses are going through. The healthcare industry wants to work with fewer vendors and more business partners who can bring breadth of expertise with a strong consistency of quality and compliance coupled with a spirit of innovation to cost-effectively accelerate their success," remarks Gareth Davies, Divisional Marketing Director.

For further information about Ashfield Commercial & Medical Services please visit the division's new website: http://www.ashfieldhealthcare.com

Photos are available for Mary Anne Greenberg and Gareth Davies on request

SOURCE: UDG Healthcare

For inquiries: Gareth Davies, Divisional Marketing Director, Ashfield Commercial & Medical Services, Phone: [phone], [email protected]; Sharon Marshall, PrincipalMarketing Solutions, Phone: [phone], [email protected]