World Courier has announced that Clinical Trial Supply Chain Services (CTSCS) has been rebranded as Clinical Supply Solutions (CSS).

World Courier’s CTSCS division of storage locations was established in 2004 to offer the pharmaceutical industry fully GMP-compliant temperature controlled storage facilities for clinical trials in emerging markets.

The depots situated in Latin America, Russia, Africa, Australia and Asia, were created with the clinical trials market in mind, with validated areas for investigational drugs and medical devices, and a distribution offering to all intra-country and many inter-country destinations direct to investigator sites, pharmacies and hospitals.

The rebranding announced this week follows an extremely successful year in 2013. 2014 will see the company using the new name, Clinical Supply Solutions, which reflects an expansion of the service offering.

Commenting on the rebranding, Gurinder Shinmar, vice-president of operations at CSS, said: "Following a very productive year both in terms of new business and product development, we felt that the CTSCS brand no longer reflected who we are and our service offering."

After much deliberation the company has selected the new names Clinical Supply Solutions CSS for the overall offering and Client Services CS, replacing the name Depot Work Instructions (DWI), to reflect the extension of the department’s role in smoothing the processes and creating client specific SOPs and work instructions.

"Over the last 2-3 years our original singular focus on investigational drugs has given way to a broader focus on pharmaceutical supply chain," Gurinder added. "We see our product range becoming more diverse, focusing on offering a range of services to improve both clinical trials and wholesale supply. The name Clinical Supply Solutions describes what it is we now do and our long term plans for our existing and potential client base."

The CSS logo symbol combines a building outline, temperature indicator and safe mechanism reflecting the company offering of temperature controlled secure facilities as required by global GMP and GDP regulatory requirements.

Dr Ruediger Lomb, global director for quality and technical compliance, said: "The change in name goes in line with our aspiration to provide one set of processes and quality standards not only for IMP storage but also for additional commercial service offerings, ultimately offering one look and feel to our clients, no matter which phase of the pharmaceutical lifecycle we are helping them with."