BRACKNELL, United Kingdom, Dec. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Innovex today announced a services agreement with PharmaMar, a subsidiary of Zeltia SA, to recruit, train and deploy a specialized oncology sales team in Western Europe to promote Yondelis(R), PharmaMar's treatment for soft tissue sarcoma. PharmaMar, which holds the marketing authorization, will be responsible for marketing the drug.
Innovex will initially deploy regional unit heads and key account managers in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain and Italy to promote Yondelis. The project will be coordinated across these countries by PharmaMar and an Innovex European project director.
Innovex, a unit of Quintiles Transnational Corp., is the leading global commercial solutions provider to the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device industries.
"Innovex's proven ability to build and launch sales forces across a multi- country region was a key factor in PharmaMar's selecting us to build its sales network for Yondelis in Western Europe," said Hywel Evans, Global President, Innovex. "This is testament to our ability to rapidly recruit, train and deploy high-performing specialty sales representatives who ensure our customers achieve their sales objectives."
Yondelis was launched Sept. 19 by PharmaMar in the United Kingdom and Germany, following its approval by the European Medicines Agency for use in the treatment of soft tissue sarcoma.
Alfonso Casal, Commercial Director, PharmaMar, said: "This agreement with Innovex means we can optimize the launch of Yondelis across five Western European countries as registration and reimbursement allows. Innovex has demonstrated that they have the ability to recruit high caliber, experienced oncology representatives that understand the marketplace and have the technical expertise required in the oncology market.
"Using Innovex services also gives us both flexibility and scalability in our future sales force deployment."
The project will be overseen by a joint steering committee of representatives from PharmaMar and Innovex.
About Innovex
Innovex is the sales and marketing unit of Quintiles Transnational Corp. Innovex is a leading commercial solutions provider that offers sales and marketing services designed to accelerate the success of pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device products. Innovex operates in multiple geographies and ensures that high quality sales solutions can be provided where the customer needs them -- locally, regionally and across multiple countries. For more information, visit http://www.innovex.com/.
About Quintiles
Quintiles Transnational Corp. is powering the next generation of healthcare by providing a broad range of professional services in drug development, financial partnering and commercialization for the biotechnology and healthcare industries. With 20,000 employees and offices in more than 50 countries, it is focused on providing customer-centric solutions that are the gold standard of the industry. For more information, please visit the company's Web site at http://www.qtrn.com/.
About PharmaMar
PharmaMar is the world leader biopharmaceutical company of the Zeltia Group, committed to advancing the treatment of cancer through the discovery and development of new marine-derived medicines. PharmaMar has five novel compounds: Yondelis(r) has received Authorization for Commercialization from the European Commission for advanced soft tissue sarcoma, after failure of anthracyclines and ifosfamide, or for patients who are unsuited to receive these agents. Yondelis(r) is also in phase III for ovarian cancer and phase II for prostate, breast and pediatric cancers. Aplidin(r), Kahalalide F, Zalypsis(r) and PM02734 are in clinical trials. PharmaMar also has a rich pipeline of preclinical candidates, and a strong R&D program.
Innovex
