“After a downturn, the market suddenly sped up real fast. That put a lot of pressure on the organization. In the middle of these hectic times we lost our plant manager, so we were in urgent need of outside help. ‘Googling’ doesn’t help in such a situation; it produces a jumble of results and takes much time and energy. Moreover, you want someone whom you can trust to handle the job. A colleague from a networking group referred me to AIM. The first meeting was pleasant and businesslike. They quickly formed a good picture of what I needed. Within 24 hours I had three candidates at the table, one of which I selected. To my full satisfaction.”

René Weltevrede
Director Operations Smitzoon

“AIM was selected to help defining the Supply Chain strategy for Tesaro in Europe. After successful completion of this phase, AIM was also asked to conduct the search, contracting and implementation of the Third Party Logistics Service provider (3PL). Some of our senior TESARO staff members had previous positive experiences with AIM and also this time AIM has done a good job and has proven to be important for a successful launch of  ZEJULA® and Varuby® in the European Union.”

UCB – Launch of an advanced medical device

UCB, a global biopharmaceutical company with a focus on neurology and immunology, was preparing to launch its first electro-mechanical injection device in Europe. While having extensive experience in bringing traditional (bio)pharmaceutical products to the market, this was a new challenge for UCB.

The ava® device is a multi-use medical device to be used in combination with UCB’s Cimzia®, which is a cold chain biotech drug product, to treat patients with rheumatoid arthritis and related inflammatory diseases. Its development and launch required UCB to partner with various specialized device contract manufacturers, and to redesign internal processes in order to meet medical device specific regulatory and business requirements. Also, the device required the set-up of a new distribution channel and of logistics processes to be able to support spare part logistics and return and replacement.

AIM supported UCB with the design and set-up of new supply chain and after-sales support processes, including pilots with initial customers (i.e. hospitals in multiple EU countries), and managed the selection, contracting and implementation of a European distribution partner.

“Our senior staff members had previous positive experiences with AIM and also this time AIM did an excellent job and were highly capable to execute a successful launch of the devices.”

AIM has been selected to conduct the Supply Chain strategy study for Epidyolex of GW Pharmaceuticals Ltd. in Europe. This cannabinoid product falls into the “Controlled Drugs” category which brings extra complications to the design and build of the Supply Chain. Soon thereafter, AIM was also requested to perform the selection of the 3PL provider in Europe and to contribute to the selection of the Wholesalers. Additionally, AIM was asked to source an Early Access Programme logistics provider for our European markets.

“We were very pleased with the performance of AIM and they have proven to be a major contributor to our European launch project.”