Company History

During the past 12 years, Bedford Laboratories has experienced explosive growth in the multisource injectable market. Bedford now sells 84 drugs with 222 presentations. Bedford also has three branded products in its impressive portfolio. This growth is a result of its strong research, development and manufacturing capabilities, combined with innovative marketing and excellent customer service.

Bedford’s parent company, Ben Venue Laboratories, has a long and distinguished history. Founded in 1938, Ben Venue embarked on a cooperative effort with the United States government during World War II to develop and produce penicillin and bacitracin. It also enjoyed a reputation as a leading developer and supplier of freeze-dried plasma for the armed forces. Freeze-drying remains one of Ben Venue’s primary specialties, along with sterile ophthalmics, materials for sterile in vivo devices, sterile diagnostics and liquid injectables.

Ben Venue has performed contract manufacturing with most of the pharmaceutical industry’s top companies. Over the years, it has become more than just a manufacturer; Ben Venue’s clients look to the company for all stages of product and process development, from dosage development to clinical manufacturing of preinvestigational and investigational drugs. In conjunction with the National Cancer Institute, Ben Venue has comanufactured and codeveloped several oncology agents, including paclitaxel injection. Ben Venue’s expertise in oncology drugs was solidified when, in 1985, the company entered into a joint venture with Chiron to develop, manufacture and sell generic oncology products.

Bedford Laboratories originated in 1993 as a separate division of Ben Venue created to sell and market its own multisource drug products. Ever since, Bedford has dedicated itself to becoming the first choice to health-system pharmacies for multisource injectable pharmaceuticals. An extensive, always expanding product line saves both time and money for customers by making it easier for them to purchase more from a single source. Bedford is constantly introducing new multisource products through new ANDA filings each year. For example, in early 2005, it was the first to market generic octreotide acetate injection, for which it had six-month exclusivity. In addition, through product acquisition and licensing, Bedford is growing into all areas of multisource injectables.

“Bedford’s focus is on specialty injectable products,” said David Gaugh, General Manager, Bedford Laboratories. “We focus on developing products that are not always available from other manufacturers.”

In keeping with its parent company’s history, Bedford has a strong focus on oncology. In 1996, Ben Venue purchased Chiron’s half of the oncology joint venture, allowing the company to market a full line of generic oncology products under the Bedford label. Since then, Bedford’s oncology product line has grown to be the largest oncology portfolio in the generic injectable industry —an effort that reflects the company’s commitment to consistently expand its oncology product offerings. In the past year, for example, Bedford has added three new oncology-related products: carboplatin, dexrazoxane and octreotide. In recent years, Bedford also has been expanding its critical care and anesthesia lines. This past year, for example, the company has added several new products including: adenosine, esmolol, fenoldopam and propofol.

Bedford’s state-of-the-art facilities and advanced manufacturing technology combine to provide high-integrity products, all of which are bar-coded with Reduced Space Symbology to help reduce medication errors. Bedford is listening to its customers and the industry by providing them with this bar code, which includes NDC number, expiration date and lot number. The company carefully manages its inventories to ensure that its products are available when needed.

In December 1997, Boehringer Ingelheim acquired Ben Venue Laboratories. The acquisition allows Ben Venue and Bedford Laboratories to be part of a worldwide corporation with greater access to markets and resources. Ben Venue remains a contract manufacturer, while Bedford markets generic and branded injectables to hospital pharmacies under its own label.

Superior customer service is vital to Bedford’s success. Bedford offers its customers such services as a telephone information line staffed by trained PharmDs. Pharmacists can call (800) 521-5169 between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. EST for routine inquiries, or at any time for emergencies.

“Our accelerated growth is based on successfully meeting our customers’ needs, enabling us to build an expansive customer base,” concluded David Gaugh. “Health-system pharmacies come to Bedford Laboratories because we have a quality product line, competitive pricing and excellent customer service.”

Over the past 12 years, Bedford Laboratories has focused its efforts on improving and advancing high-quality products that offer value to its customers. Renowned for select specialty injectables, many not available from any other source, the company also provides unsurpassed customer service. It’s all part of Bedford’s commitment to today’s health-system pharmacists—leading the way to healthcare excellence.