Almac Group Participates in Global Clinical Supply BlockChain Working Group

Craigavon, N.I., 17 September 2019 – Almac Group, the global contract pharmaceutical development and manufacturing organisation, is pleased to announce its participation in the Global Clinical Supply BlockChain working group (GCSBWG).

Given how well-suited the BlockChain technology is for supply chains where numerous organisations must handle sensitive information, the multi-stakeholder group, spearheaded by Biogen and Pfizer, convened to explore whether technology could address the growing demands of clinical trials.

With Phase 1 of the GSCWG complete, the group has published a whitepaper entitled “Transforming Pharmaceutical Clinical Supply Messaging with BlockChain” which outlines the programme’s highlights to date. A proof-of-concept iOS mobile application called “KitChain MVP” has also been built upon a hyperleger fabric permissioned BlockChain infrastructure which stimulates discussion amongst clinical supply chain participants. The ultimate aim of the working group is to envision a messaging and notification platform which can support the performance requirements of the whole clinical supply chain.

Almac’s Mark Hanly, Strategic Business Analysis Manager and Mark McColgan, Software Development Manager, will continue to work alongside a diverse group of global academia, pharmaceutical companies and other Contract Manufacturing Organisations through the next phases of the working group and contribute pertinent insight and debate. With this group there was significant potential to enhance the depth and breadth of knowledge on how BlockChain could potentially be applied in the industry.

Andrew Hillis, Vice President and Group Head of Information Services, Almac Group, commented:
“The rapid adoption of BlockChain technology, coupled with its clear applicability to the clinical supply chain, make this project extremely timely and relevant to meeting the future challenges our industry. We’re privileged to contribute our experiences and perspectives as one of the world’s largest global clinical supply providers to this endeavour that if successful, will undoubtedly have a major impact on clinical sites and ultimately, patients.”

ENDS

About Almac Group
‘Partnering to Advance Human Health’

The Almac Group is an established contract development and manufacturing organisation that provides an extensive range of integrated services to the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors globally. The services range from R&D, biomarker discovery development and commercialisation, API manufacture, formulation development, clinical trial supply, IRT (IVRS/IWRS) through to commercial-scale manufacture.

The international company is a privately-owned organisation that has organically grown over 50 years and now employs over 5600 highly skilled personnel.

Almac is headquartered in Craigavon, Northern Ireland with 17 operations across Europe, the US (Pennsylvania, North Carolina and California) and Asia (Singapore and Tokyo).

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