Aegate News

Aegate appoints Chief Operations Officer, Brian Thornley, GSK and EFPIA supply chain expert, to growing Aegate team

2nd July 2007

Former Director of European Supply Chain for GlaxoSmithKline, Brian Thornley, has joined Aegate, the growing UK-based pharmaceutical authentication company active in the fight against counterfeit and substandard medicines, as Chief Operations Officer, effective immediately.

With over 15 years of experience at GSK and as Director of European Supply Chain for the past four years, Thornley brings with him a wealth of knowledge of the challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry. While managing the supply chain from 25 global factories across 44 countries in Europe, and supporting European sales of £4.2Bn, Thornley was also an active member of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industry and Associations (EFPIA)'s Distribution & Supply Chain Committee.

On joining Aegate, Thornley said: "I am thrilled by this new challenge and look forward to working with the dynamic Aegate team. Ensuring security in the supply chain especially with regard to counterfeiting is an increasing problem in Europe and represents a growing threat to public health. The fact that Aegate's solution does not focus on the supply chain but on patient safety at the point where it counts i.e. in the pharmacy, makes drug authentication viable and scalable".

Aegate CEO, Gary Noon, commented: "I am delighted to welcome Brian to our team. Aegate will certainly benefit from his invaluable experience in the pharmaceutical sector and his in-depth knowledge of its challenges and needs. Brian's expertise will be key to implementing the Aegate solution across Europe and to achieving a cost-effective solution which protects patients, pharmacists and pharmaceutical products".

Aegate, the UK-based company, has developed a patient safety solution which allows pharmacists to authenticate medicines at the point of dispensing and to identify potential counterfeits, as well as recalled, expired or even stolen pharmaceuticalproducts. Counterfeit drugs are a growing problem both in developed and developing countries, which are estimated to cost the industry $75 billion by 2010. With a final authenticity check before dispensing the medicine, industry and the public can have increased confidence in patient safety. Aegate's authentication at the point of dispensing™ service is already implemented in Belgium and is currently being introduced in Greece.