World Orphan Drug Alliance Expands to China, Israel, and Greece, Cyprus, and Malta

• Greater China region, Israel, and Greece, Cyprus and Malta are now also covered by the alliance.
• With the addition of three new WODA members – RareStone Group, CTS, and Path Pharma – WODA now provides access to 85 million rare disease patients.

SHANGHAI, China and TEL AVIV, Israel and ATHENS, Greece and ZURICH, Switzerland, March 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The World Orphan Drug Alliance (WODA), a global alliance of commercial distributors dedicated to providing access to treatments for rare diseases and specialty medicines in complex markets around the world, has expanded its reach to include the Greater China region, Israel, and Greece, Cyprus, and Malta.

The addition of three new members – RareStone Group, CTS, and Path Pharma – brings the total number of countries covered by WODA to 76 and provides access to 85 million rare disease patients. The alliance now consists of eight members, each being experts for the region covered.

This expansion is a significant step towards WODA’s goal of providing access to rare disease treatments to patients worldwide. “By adding the new members to the alliance, we have increased our global footprint, and we’re excited to see that our new members share WODA’s mission of improving access to rare disease therapies,” said Patrick Jordan, Chairman of WODA. “This point is especially important for China, which has the largest pool of rare diseases patients in the world – there are roughly 20 million people who suffer from rare diseases in China.”

The Greater China region is covered by RareStone Group, which aims to become the leading company supporting the rare disease community in China. Compared with their counterparts in the USA and Europe, rare-disease patients in China are facing many more challenges in receiving diagnosis and treatment. However, improving orphan drugs access is one of the core priorities for China’s health care policy.

WODA has a strong new member in Israel. Founded in 1921, CTS is among Israel’s leading pharmaceutical companies well-known for its strong capabilities in local access, distribution, and marketing of high-end therapies. One of CTS’s key areas of focus are rare diseases. Israel’s incidence rate for rare diseases, predominantly autosomal recessive, is higher than that of Western countries primarily due to population characteristics.

Path Pharma is the full-service distributor in the Greece, Cyprus, Malta region. Founded by industry experts, Path has expertise in local market access, medical support, marketing, and sales, with focus on rare diseases, highly specialized therapeutics and oncology. Path aims to become the partner of choice for pharma and biotechnology companies without direct presence in the region.

The Alliance provides a broad outreach with a local focus through eight separate entities: Medis (Central and Eastern Europe), RareStone Group (China, Taiwan, Macau), Path Pharma (Greece, Cyprus, Malta), CTS (Israel), OrphanDC (Latin America), Vector Pharma (Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey), Orpharm (Russia and the CIS region), and EffRX (Switzerland).

About WODA
The World Orphan Drug Alliance (WODA) is a global alliance of commercial distributors focused on providing access to treatments for rare diseases and specialty medicines in complex markets around the world. WODA aims to provide comprehensive support to pharmaceutical and biotech companies with rare disease, oncology, and highly specialized therapeutics portfolio, starting from Named Patient Programs through to full commercialization.
More about WODA: www.woda-alliance.com

Media contact:
Tina Vojnovic, tina.vojnovic@woda-alliance.com, +386 41 744 735