AstraZeneca joins Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals

AstraZeneca has become the latest pharmaceutical company to join the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP).

The firm has become a global member of the professional association and will utilise its certification and training tools to ensure its alliance personnel are using up-to-date techniques.

It will allow AstraZeneca to leverage ASAP's network of leading alliance management executives and organisations to improve its best practice standards, while using its own expertise to aid the global community.

Other prominent biopharmaceutical companies that are already members of ASAP include Lilly, Abbott, Novartis and Sanofi.

Nick Dunscombe, global leader of alliance management at AstraZeneca, said: "Our aspiration is to be perceived as the partner of choice and we believe one of the key differentiators which could support this is having an industry-leading alliance management function."

Last month, InPharm reported comments from AstraZeneca's chief financial officer Simon Lowth suggesting that collaborative partnerships are set to become an increasingly vital part of the company's future strategy.