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

London And Ivyland, Pennsylvania (ots/PRNewswire) -

Ashfield Commercial & Medical Services Integrates Eight Areas of
Service

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

For inquiries:
Gareth Davies, Divisional Marketing Director
Ashfield Commercial & Medical Services
Phone: +1-215-688-1975
gdavies@ashfieldhealthcare.com

Sharon Marshall, Principal
Marketing Solutions
Phone: +1-215-538-1437
smarshall@mkt-sol.com

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

ots Originaltext: UDG Healthcare
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