Distribution Deals: GVKBIO in Taiwan; Sanofi in Austria

GVK Biosciences says it is looking to target Taiwanese clients following a distribution deal with GGA over its clinical databases.

The agreement will be the first venture into Taiwan for Indian Contract Research Organisation (CRO) GVKBIO as it selects Genesis Genetics Asia (GGA) to distribute its informatics offerings including the GOSTAR and GOBIOM Clinical Databases.

A spokesman for GVKBIO, Sushant Datta, told Outsourcing-Pharma.com “Taiwan is a rapidly evolving market in the Pharmaceutical Industry. It represents a natural expansion of GVK BIO’s presence in the Asia Pacific.”

Datta added that GVKBIO has already established itself in Japan and Singapore, and Taiwan, as “an emerging market in life sciences” was the obvious next step in the Asian market as the company expands its customer base in the region.

The news comes less than a month after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) extended its license of the GOBIOM biomarker technology for another year.

The GOBIOM library contains over 20,000 biomarkers with multiple data points covering experimental, analytical, clinical and statistical information and has been licensed to a number of pharma companies and academic bodies.

Sanofi Outsource Austrian Distribution

The GVKBIO and GGA deal is not the only distribution news this week as drugmaker Sanofi has announced that its entire pharma distribution in Austria will be outsourced to ABF Pharmaceutical Services.

Elisabeth Lackner, CEO at ABF Pharmaceutical Services, said in a press statement: "Sanofi uses our distribution logistics and expertise to streamline and leverage their distribution costs and gain greater flexibility in delivering their medicines to pharmacies, wholesalers and hospitals."

ABF has said it will take over Sanofi’s Austrian storage facilities but did not respond to Outsourcing-Pharma.com’s request for more details.