UDG Healthcare expands its Ashfield commercialization services with two acquisitions

The UDG Healthcare conglomerate, which combines commercial, clinical, communications and packaging services to the healthcare industry, is bulking up its Ashfield business unit with two US firms, as part of an ongoing growth strategy in the US. Cambridge BioMarketing, purchased for $35 million, provides creative and digital expertise, especially for orphan drug markets, which UDG expects to grow at an 11% CAGR between now and 2022. Cambridge has offices in Cambridge, MA and Oakland, CA.

Philadelphia-based Vynamic offerings include: brand strategy, planning and launch, advanced commercial operations capabilities, strategic transformation and integration, product design and implementation, change leadership and business intelligence and analytics. UDG notes that it will complement the Ashfield division’s goal of providing expanded advisory services for life sciences companies. Purchase price was not disclosed.

UDG’s three divisions are: Aquilant, a European-based provider of outsourced sales, marketing, distribution and engineering services to the medical and scientific sectors; Sharp, a global leader in contract packaging in the US and Europe, and Ashfield, which provides commercial and clinical services, and health communications. Greg Flynn, most recently Ashfield's regional president in Japan, is moving to the role of regional president, Ashfield Commercial & Clinical, in the US.