CHAPPER healthcare – a leading UK-based global pharmaceutical wholesaler & distributor – has today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Australian pharmaceutical company Pharmaxis Ltd for the distribution of Aridol® (also known as Osmohale®), an asthma management tool, in the UK & Ireland.
The Aridol®/Osmohale® mannitol challenge test is an innovative lung function test designed to help doctors diagnose and manage asthma by detecting active airway inflammation through measuring airway hyper-responsiveness (BHR). The objective measurement of BHR plays a key role in the diagnosis of respiratory conditions such as asthma.
Since commercialisation in Australia in 2006, the mannitol challenge test (Aridol®/Osmohale®) has been used in numerous clinical trials and is approved for sale in Australia, major European countries, the United States, Canada and South Korea.
CHAPPER healthcare – which supplies an extensive network of NHS and private hospitals in the UK – will now act as the exclusive distributor for Osmohale® in the UK & Ireland. Utilising its network of UK and European warehouses, the company will additionally be acting as a logistics hub for Pharmaxis’s European distributors.
Jonathan Chapper, CEO of CHAPPER healthcare, commented: “We are excited to be working with an innovative company such as Pharmaxis to supply Osmohale® to customers in the UK and Ireland. Pharmaxis is a world-class pharmaceutical research company and partnering with them provides a great opportunity to build on our services in the UK. Our company specialises in providing distribution solutions, working closely with the NHS and private hospitals in the UK whilst also offering flexible European solutions, putting us in a position to provide a unique and effective solution for Pharmaxis and their distribution partners across Europe.”
Aridol®/Osmohale® is the first and only Europe-wide approved bronchial challenge test and the world’s first approved indirect challenge test for asthma, a condition which affects more than 8 million people in the UK – approximately 12% of the population.[1] A 2020 study shows that, in the UK, asthma patients are increasingly prescribed higher levels of treatment, often without clear clinical indication for such high doses.[2]
Manufactured by Pharmaxis Ltd, Aridol®/Osmohale® provides an innovative tool to assist doctors in providing appropriate asthma treatment. The product is available as a standardised test kit containing pre-filled mannitol capsules and a single-use, hand-held dry powder inhaler. During a mannitol challenge test, patients inhale increasing doses of mannitol with their lung function measured after each dose to determine the level of BHR.
CHAPPER is working closely with Pharmaxis to achieve the successful distribution of the product in the UK & Ireland, where the test can provide an important disease management tool for millions of asthma sufferers.
Specialising in the supply of pharmaceuticals, CHAPPER healthcare supplies clients in over 70 countries and operates from 2 purpose-built UK warehouses. The company has additional hubs in Ireland and Germany as part of its European expansion strategy to get medicines to patients quicker and more efficiently.
[1] https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/asthma/background-information/prevalence/#:~:text=In%20the%20UK%2C%20over%208,people%20are%20receiving%20asthma%20treatment.
[2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32692744/
