SubscribeAlmac is a globally focused organisation providing an expansive range of services from discovery, research and development through to clinical trials and finally the delivery of finished product.
Headquartered in the North of Ireland, Almac has additional facilities on the UK mainland and throughout North America. In this interview, Dr Allen McClay CBE, Chairman and founder of Almac Sciences, will describe why, at the age of 69 rather than face retirement, he decided to re-launch his career through the purchase of five unique companies and his desire to integrate these companies to provide a ‘one-stop-shop’ solution to the pharmaceutical organisation.
Dr McClay’s personal investment of $500 million to develop a centre of excellence is both a commitment to the 1,600 individuals comprising the Almac Sciences ‘family’ and to the Almac vision:
“Almac Sciences will be the leader in the generation of superior solutions for the advancement of human health”.
What is Almac Sciences?
Almac Sciences comprises five unique companies that between them offer services from drug discovery through to the commercialisation of final product. Each individual company’s management team reports into the main Almac Sciences Board and rather than each company having a dedicated human resources, IT and finance departments etc these are controlled at Almac Board level, thereby leaving each division to concentrate on maintaining itself at the forefront of its area of expertise and ensuring it offers a quality service delivered on time and on budget.
Our discovery and R & D services are provided by CSS (Chemical Synthesis Services) and ArraDx (Array Based Diagnostics). CSS can provide development and custom synthesis from milligram to 100-kilogram quantities including potent, cytotoxic materials, oligonucleotide and peptide products. Using our own proprietary techniques, combined with novel purification technologies, CSS can synthesise proteins of approximately 170 amino acids in length.
ArraDx develops and clinically validates micro-array based cancer diagnostic products. We have already developed and validated a unique disease specific transcriptome-based colorectal cancer discovery array comprising approximately 40,000 transcripts known to be expressed in this disease setting. Whilst we already have a patent pending for this array we are currently proactively researching similar transcriptome based arrays for lung, ovary, breast and prostate cancer, and hope to progress this approach into other disease areas.
Two of our divisions are globally renowned for providing specialist assistance to companies through the clinical trial development phase of product registration. CTS (Clinical Trial Services) prepare and distribute clinical supplies on a global basis. They have recently set up a global network of distribution hubs to assist in the rapid expedition of large phase III global clinical studies.
Working closely with CTS is ICTI (Interactive Clinical Technologies Incorporated) providing specialist trial management solutions primarily based on IVRS (interactive voice response systems). ICTI has recently expanded its service offering to incorporate electronic data capture (EDC). Our final division, PDMS (Pharmaceutical Development & Manufacturing Services) undertakes formulation and development of solid dosage products and also the commercial manufacturing, packaging and distribution of commercial product.
Our philosophy:
It is possible to describe each of our service divisions as a “corner shop”. We are probably all used to using the corner shop, where we can buy some of the services we require in our every day lives, but certainly not everything. At the other end of the scale it is possible to go to the large shopping mall, where we can purchase almost all our requirements under the one roof.
Whilst we are extremely proud of the services offered by each division, it is our opinion that the strength of Almac Sciences is to consider us as the shopping mall whereby it is possible to fulfil many requirements through the one organisation. Adopting this approach will enable companies to reduce significantly the time it takes from discovery of new chemical entities to delivery of the final commercial product into the market place.
It is also our belief that it is considerably easier to work with one organisation having a common culture than to co-ordinate work between different organisations having differing cultures. Working within one organisation eliminates confidentially issues that would exist between organisations that are not under common ownership.
Our organisation also has strong core values – primarily we place our people as our strength and we have dedicated training both at corporate and divisional level to ensure each of our employees reaches his or her maximum potential.
As an organisation, we are focused on quality, however we also rise to the challenge of innovation and are highly recognised for our ability to solve important and challenging problems that require innovative solutions. We also recognise and believe that research is the key to the unlocking of future commercial applications and in particular innovation through research will ultimately benefit us all.
Advantages:
Through partnerships we like to think of Almac Sciences becoming a seamless extension of our clients within the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. By being customer focused, we aim not just to fulfil our customer expectations, but also to exceed them.
In essence the advantage that Almac Sciences bring is having such a wide range of service offerings from discovery to delivery of finished product in the one organisation and being able to manage the flow of information between divisions seamlessly thereby enabling our sponsor companies to reach commercialisation of their finished product in a timely and cost effective manner.
Most importantly, the vast majority of work carried out by Almac divisions is with customers who have already been using us for a considerable period of time. This perhaps proves the value of the focused relationships which Almac form that ultimately benefit both organisations forming the partnership.
Customers:
Almac Sciences currently works with 18 of the top 20 global pharmaceutical organisations and has achieved ‘Preferred Provider’ status with many of them. We also work with many smaller pharmaceutical organisations including biotechnology and virtual organisations. In addition, we have developed strong partnership relationships with many of the leading Japanese pharmaceutical organisations.
Challenging aspects:
Dr McClay: Outsourcing of services allows our clients to accelerate their drug development life cycle. We can do everything for them – take a new chemical entity from preclinical through clinical trials to product launch whilst they enjoy an efficient, high quality and reliable service that produces results quickly.
ArraDx’s pioneering step in personalised medication is testament to our continuous commitment to innovative research and development. Here at Almac Sciences research has been and will continue to be of paramount importance within all aspects of our organisation. Full integration of our five unique companies has resulted in the creation of one powerful organisation; our dedication to people, quality, innovation and superlative customer service allows us to be at the forefront the pharmaceutical industry.
ArraDx:
Almac Sciences welcomed ArraDx into the ‘family’ in 2003 and the successful collaboration and integration of services has enabled us to increase our knowledge, expertise and capabilities significantly, particularly within the field of research and development.
ArraDx provides an all-inclusive micro-array and sequencing service to global pharmaceutical and biotech companies in addition to academic institutions. They are committed to the development of novel array based cancer diagnostic products and believe that this type of applied genomic technology will facilitate a more targeted approach to patient treatment.
Currently, ArraDx’s efforts have been focused on the process of identifying the transcriptomes for a number of major cancers including colorectal, prostate, breast, ovary and lung. By focusing on individual tissue transcriptomes they can gain complete insight into how changes in gene expression can inform the clinical decision making process.
Almac House, Reception Foyer