UDG broadens Ashfield offering

UDG Healthcare has brought its sales, marketing and medical service businesses together under the banner of Ashfield Commercial & Medical Services.

The move will see established UDG business brands, such as Pharmexx, Watermeadow Medical, Pharma Marketing Academy and Universal WorldEvents, come under the new Ashfield brand.

All told Ashfield Commercial & Medical Services will cover eight service areas, a change the company said would enable it to deliver global services more effectively and thus meet industry demands for greater flexibility, insight and innovation.

Chris Corbin, managing director of Ashfield Commercial & Medical Services, said: “This transformation of our business allows us to deliver more for the industry, healthcare professionals and patients through our combined expertise and insight, whilst retaining the ingenuity and energy that our companies are known for.

“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.”  

Business brands involved in the change include Ashfield In2Focus, Business Edge, Pharmexx, InforMed, Watermeadow Medical, Pharma Marketing Academy and Universal WorldEvents.

In their place the integrated company will offer services through eight new business units: Ashfield Commercial, Ashfield Clinical, Ashfield Healthcare Communications, Ashfield Insight and Performance, Ashfield Market Access, Ashfield Meetings and Events, Ashfield Pharmacovigilance and Ashfield Medical Information.

The changes follow the rebranding of Ashfield's parent company from United Drug to UDG Healthcare in October 2013. The group has operations in 22 countries and operates across four key areas: Aquilant Specialist Healthcare Services, Ashfield Commercial & Medical Services, United Drug Supply Chain Services and Sharp Packaging Services.