Under the deal, Parexel will provide clinical logistics services such as global supply chain planning, forecasting and clinical trial material sourcing. Catalent will provide manufacturing, packaging, labelling and analytics services.
The firms say though they have been working together for years, there was demand for a more “formal” relationship which integrates the services and covers the full clinical trial life cycle.
“Customers that conduct global clinical trials view global scale and reach as a necessity, they are looking for fewer ‘preferred’ vendors with a broader set of capabilities, and real-time data and system connectivity between the sponsor and the supplier,” Catalent’s president of development and clinical services Scott Houlton told Outsourcing-Pharma.com.
Kurt Norris, corporate VP of clinical logistics for Parexel, added that in the current climate with many biopharma firms suffering the effects of patent expiry there is a need to improve research and development (R&D) productivity and efficiency to make up for revenue losses.
“The alliance directly addresses evolving market dynamics as well as customer needs,” he said.
What’s next?
The Parexel deal follows the acquisition of Aptuit’s clinical trial supplies (CTS) business and is also part of "Catalent’s development and clinical services business growth strategy” according to Houlton.
He added that - as part of this growth effort - Catalent will seek more strategic partnerships, particularly in Asia where the firm will “continue to expand our development and clinical supply capabilities.”
As for Parexel, the growing business through the new alliance will be the key focus.
“We will be spending time with our clients discussing further the various benefits stemming from the alliance relative to our end-to-end clinical trial management supply chain solution as well as continuing to execute on those studies for which we are already extending various services,” said Norris.