Catalent Pharma Solutions has launched its Development and Clinical Services unit. A new business segment dedicated to helping customers bring new pharmaceutical and biologic products to market, the unit will bring together Catalent’s analytical and science services and regulatory consulting services — formerly in its Sterile Technologies segment — with its clinical supply services business, formerly in its Packaging Services segment.

The new segment will build upon Catalent’s expertise and experience in supporting the development and testing of drugs and biologics through scientific, regulatory and clinical trial supply chain services, according to a company statement. For small molecule drugs, the company reports, Catalent's services extend from early steps of characterizing a drug molecule, to delivering drugs to the investigator site, on through to final submission of regulatory filings. For biologics, offerings include advanced bioanalytical services, the advanced GPEx technology and cell-line development services, biomanufacturing, and specialized cold chain distribution for clinical trial materials. The new segment provides global regulatory consulting and support, respiratory delivery formulation, development and manufacture and early phase injectables manufacture.

Scott Houlton has been named group president for the new segment, effective August 31. Mr. Houlton most recently served as the chief operating officer of Aptuit, Inc., and before that as president of Aptuit’s clinical packaging business. Prior to Aptuit, he held several leadership roles in the development service business of Quintiles Transnational, with prior experience at Cardinal Health and General Electric.

John Chiminski, president and chief executive officer of Catalent, remarked, “I expect the Development and Clinical Services segment to bring even more value to our customers through a sharpened focus and an integrated approach to solving the challenges our R&D customers face, and believe that this will result in significant new growth for the segment. As we have been involved in more than a third of NDAs and BLAs approved by the FDA in the last seven years, we know what it takes to bring a customer’s drug or biologic to market — each step of the way.”

He added, “I am also very pleased to welcome Scott to Catalent to lead this segment. He is experienced at driving growth, passionate about serving customers, and committed to operational excellence. I expect great things from Scott and the nearly 900 employees of this new segment.”