Addition of the site in Singapore, which is due to open early next year, continues the trend started in 2005 when, in response to client demand, World Courier started expanding in Latin America.
Having increased its presence in Latin America World Courier shifted its focus to other emerging regions which lacked clinical trial material distribution infrastructure. This strategy saw it establish a site in China and the Asian expansion continues with centres in Singapore and Tokyo, Japan.
Speaking to Outsourcing-Pharma, Noel Foucart, director of global marketing at World Courier, said the clinical trial distribution centres integrate with the firm’s existing global infrastructure. This infrastructure was established to support the firm’s general courier business.
Having previously operated as a general courier with some pharma capabilities, World Courier began adding specialist clinical trial sites in response to client demand. This process has occurred rapidly. The Singapore site is World Courier’s 13th clinical trial distribution facility.
Each facility is staffed by full-time licensed pharmacists, can store materials at temperatures ranging from -70oC to +25oC and uses the proprietary CTM-STAR monitoring system.
Building a specialised global network allows World Courier to support all of a client’s distribution needs. Foucart said using a single, door-to-door supplier, instead of multiple firms, reduces complexity, increases accountability and prevents mistakes that can cause costly trial delays.
Further expansions
The Tokyo site is due to open later this year. World Courier is also quadrupling storage area at its site in Buenos Aires, Argentina and adding capacity in Moscow, Russia and Johannesburg, South Africa. The Johannesburg site is in its first year of operation.
World Courier is also planning to expand its operations in Bangalore, India; Lima, Peru; São Paulo, Brazil; and Santiago, Chile. These expansions, like the others initiated by World Courier, are in direct response to client demand.