Sharp, Ashfield to Launch Diurnal’s Pediatric Drug
Diurnal Group, a Cardiff, UK-headquartered specialty pharmaceutical company targeting chronic endocrine diseases, has signed agreements with Sharp Packaging Services and Ashfield Healthcare, divisions of UDG Healthcare, a Dublin, Ireland-headquartered contract provider of clinical, commercial, communication, and packaging services, related to the anticipated launch of Diurnal’s lead product candidate, Infacort, an immediate-release hydrocortisone preparation developed for treating adrenal insufficiency (Addison’s disease), including congenital adrenal hyperplasia, in children under six years of age.
Diurnal anticipates receiving market authorization from in Europe in late 2017 following a market authorization application to the European Medicines Agency in December 2016.
Diurnal plans to market Infacort in the major European territoires. To that end, it has signed an agreement with Sharp, a provider of contract packaging and clinical supply-chain services, to prepare commercial supply of the drug product in anticipation of a launch in 2018.
Diurnal has also signed a service agreement with Ashfield, a contract sales organization, to build sales and medical infrastructure in major European territories. Ashfield will focus in the next 12 months on establishing a Europe-wide network of medical liaison staff in preparation for the launch.
Source: Diurnal