Why are we ethical?
One of Britain’s fastest growing private companies, Nova provides an innovative, flexible and cost effective service, taking especial pride in the quick turnaround of the patient specific products made in its modern, state of the art facilities.
What standards do we adhere to?
All Nova Specials are made in MHRA approved facilities in compliance with cGMP and industry best practice. After undergoing a specially developed programme of training that may take up to three years, Nova’s staff are highly skilled specialists with expertise in making up particular types of products, such as creams or capsules, to a very high standard. This specialization in formulation will mean, for example, that the specially formulated cream will have a good appearance, be evenly distributed and work as efficaciously as possible. All extemporaneous products made to order will be released by one of Nova’s pharmacists, who will check the quality and appearance of the product, the formulation, the label and the expiry dates, all the paperwork and the batch number.
Nova manufacture Specials in virtually all pharmaceutical dosage forms and make a significant number of non sterile cytotoxic formulations. To ensure their competence and safety, Nova provides particularly rigorous specialist training for staff working with hazardous materials. For operator safety, all hazardous materials are made in special cabinets within special manufacturing conditions and staff are provided with protective clothing.
Why are we useful to society?
Nova is one of the few companies that make sterile Specials, for example for use in labour and for general pain control. The many hospitals which they work collaboratively with appreciate that Nova make aseptics in relatively large batches which are quality control and sterility tested and that if there is a particularly urgent need, for example, a syringe of for strong painkiller, or bags for use in pain control following an operation, or for a terminally ill patient, Nova will send the Special via courier.
Nova also has expertise in formulations that exclude materials that individual patients are allergic to, such as lactose or sucrose. Generally the prescribing clinician will want a minimum number of components in formulations for young children, in case they are sensitive to them. Occasionally a child may be allergic to the preservatives that are used in licensed medicines to yield a reasonable shelf life. In this case, because of its specialization, fast turnaround and manufacturing flexibility, Nova will be able to make a Special without preservatives with a short shelf life in a way that would not be commercially viable for a licensed manufacturer.
To make compliance easier for young children, or for elderly patients who may, for example, be suffering from swallowing difficulties following a stroke, Nova will use their formulation expertise to make a liquid form of a medicine normally only available in solid form.
How can we be seen as dynamic?
Nova have a specialization in products which require very high levels of skill, such as cytotoxics which must be made to very stringent standards, and capsules, in which the levels of difficulty in achieving a consistency of product are high. One of the reasons that Nova has such an extensive product range is that as a customer service, the company’s pharmacists will investigate the potential of fulfilling any request for a Special from a doctor, or hospital pharmacist, no matter how unusual or difficult. If it is not one of the many thousands of formulations that Nova have expertise in, the pharmacist will do a literature search, check files and ascertain if there is sufficient stability data to enable to Special to be made.
One of the more unusual approaches – from Edinburgh Veterinary School – has led to Nova providing special medicines that enable Veterinary Surgeons to accurately tailor the dose of antibiotics used to treat domestic cats. For animals, particularly small animals the correct therapeutic dose may be much smaller than that which is available as a licensed product and since cats are many different weights, up to thirty different strengths have been required.
How are we patient focused?
All of the efforts of Nova’s highly trained and motivated staff are dedicated to providing the best possible patient experience. Nova’s undertaking is that it will deliver on the same day to all customers in the local vicinity, including local hospitals
Why are we reputable?
Nova is a privately owned company listed as Pricewaterhouse Cooper Profit Track 100 2008 company. It was founded and is owned by pharmacists and now works with most of the country’s hospitals, attracting customers who may have approached Nova initially because they were having difficulty sourcing a special and retaining them through the cost effective, meticulous timely and customer focused service that they experience.
The Association of Commercial Specials Manufacturers Limited. Registered in England and Wales, Company number 05015111, Unit 1, Regents Drive, Lower Prudhoe Industrial Estate, Prudhoe, Northumberland, NE42 6PX. Copyright 2009 ACSM, All rights reserved. Terms of Use