Health and biotechnology in the Val d'Oise

Medicen Paris Région (an international competitiveness cluster) brings together the major players in life and health sciences in the Île-de-France region.

 Medicen Paris Région is dedicated to high technology in the field of health: new drugs, gene, molecular and cell therapy. This cluster is structuring its work around the implementation of a skills network with key players from the health and drug science industries. Its aim is to establish the Île-de-France region as the leader for therapeutic innovations in the industry in Europe by 2010. Located at the heart of the leading economic region in Europe, it has the highest concentration of businesses in the health field in Europe and has all the advantages of a world-class metropolis like Paris in terms of financial, real estate and transport infrastructure. At the heart of the Val d'Oise,

the urban district of Cergy-Pontoise is identified as the cluster's prime R&D area.

THE MEDICEN PARIS RÉGION CLUSTER'S PROJECTS
 The Medicen Paris Région aims to become the leading European industrial cluster in the field of therapeutic innovation. The Medicen Paris Région cluster is developing six areas of excellence, of which three fall into the therapeutics category - Neuroscience, Oncology and Infectious Diseases - and three into the technological category: Molecular and cellular medicine, Medical imaging and Drug science and techniques.

CATALENT PHARMA SOLUTIONS STRENGTHENING ITS PRESENCE IN THE VAL D'OISE
 Catalent Pharma Solutions has an R&D centre and a facility at the heart of Cergy-Pontoise. This company came into being here following the sale of assets by the Cardinal Health group. In July 2007, Cardinal Health sold its drug manufacturing business to the Catalent group. The Cergy-Pontoise facility (formerly a division of Cardinal Health Pharmaceutical Technologies and Services) is now called Catalent Pharma Solutions.
Cardinal Health, a major American company for medical services, is involved in pharmaceutical distribution, hospital supplies and the development and production of pharmaceutical specialities. Cardinal Health employs over 55 000 people on 6 continents. The group has 30 factories. One of these is the facility in Cergy-Pontoise, which has been in the Val d'Oise for 30 years. Cardinal Health had a unit there for the development of pharmaceutical products and a production plant (180 employees) which designs and produces a portfolio of pharmaceutical specialities on behalf of third-party customers (including leading American, Japanese and European laboratories). Among the products developed and manufactured in Cergy-Pontoise, mainly hormone therapy tablets, is the famous « morning-after pill » Norlevo for Laboratoires HRA. This pill, millions of which are sold each year, requires very specific manufacture and quality control, given its particular prescription: just one dose! Fully satisfied with the advantages of the Val d'Oise (particularly transport and the skills pool), Cardinal Health has just invested 12m € to develop a new production unit specialising in 'spray drying', a specific technology for the preparation of hormones.

www.catalent.com

AREA TIME LOGISTICS: EXPERTS IN THE TRANSPORT OF BIOLOGICAL SAMPLES
 Set up in 1994 in response to considerable demand in the pharmaceutical industry, Area Time Logistics specialises in the transportation of medical samples at controlled temperatures. Located in Cergy-Pontoise, Area Time Logistics' head office is the hub of the company's business.
Active in France and in French overseas departments and territories, with a network of 100 drivers working directly for the company and 100 trained subcontracting transport providers, Area Time Logistics has 40 branches throughout France, the largest of which is in the Val d'Oise. They are also represented in over 50 countries through local agents who have been trained in the group's methods. In a demographical situation marked by an ageing population, developed countries will have to manage a greater diversity of medical treatments. This will entail a change in the number of preventive and remedial diagnoses. There will be more human samples and issues of cost will mean these are sent to centres of excellence for analysis.
Area Time Logistics' business calls for a complex level of technical know-how to ensure the integrity of samples. It is a world-class innovating company and a partner in collaborative projects for medical research, enabling progress in logistics for prime manufacturers in the pharmaceutical industry. A member of 'Medicen Paris Région', the Paris region competitiveness cluster, Area Time Logistics will contribute its expertise in logistics solutions to ongoing changes in the sector, including training for members of the competitiveness cluster and across-the-board assistance for clinical research projects.

www.areatime.com