About Jonathan Chapper, CEO
Jonathan has a degree in law from Oxford University and is still a qualified solicitor with the ability to practice. The first thirteen years of his career were spent in law, initially in private practice with Allen & Overy and then with Bristow’s. This was followed by a period as Deputy General Counsel at Shore Capital plc, a boutique investment bank which was then listed on AIM. He then joined CHC in late 2013, initially as COO and then as CEO.
Jonathan’s broader commercial experience has allowed him to determine the commercial strategy of the business and to reorganize its operational structure to set it up for its current and future growth. His legal structuring experience has also been of great benefit when setting up the subsidiaries in Ireland and Dubai, together with warehousing in Ireland and Germany and negotiating commercial arrangements with suppliers and customers.
His familiarity with regulation and dealing with regulatory authorities has allowed the company to successfully pass its periodic regulatory inspections, whilst also obtaining three additional licenses in recent years which provide the regulatory infrastructure for future growth. Jonathan is a Practitioner member of the Chartered Quality Institute and is a qualified Lead GMP Auditor.
About CHAPPER healthcare
CHAPPER healthcare is AscellaHealth’s global pharmaceutical wholesaler, distributor, and commercialisation service provider, offering specialty pharmacy services with direct-to-patient dispensing capabilities. * In collaboration with AscellaHealth, a U.S.-headquartered provider of life sciences solutions specialising in complex, chronic and rare diseases, CHAPPER healthcare delivers comprehensive, end-to-end solutions across the specialty pharmacy landscape.
Renowned for its long-standing reputation in supplying both licensed and unlicensed medicines, CHAPPER healthcare partners directly with life sciences manufacturers to deliver key distribution services throughout the United Kingdom, European Union and beyond through its alliance with EUROPACCESS. Together, these integrated offerings enhance access for life sciences stakeholders worldwide.
*CHAPPER healthcare is wholly owned by Innovative Specialty Solutions, LLC, an affiliate of AscellaHealth, LLC.
Medical Travel & Digital Health News (MTDHN): Please tell our readers about yourself and how you got involved in this industry. What drives you to continue the journey?
Jonathan Chapper (JC): My journey into CHAPPER was somewhat circuitous.
When I decided to transition away from practicing law, I joined the family business, CHAPPER healthcare. This was a comfortable transition, as my legal work had provided me with valuable experience working with pharmaceutical clients.
My goal has been to grow and diversify the family business, which proudly marks its 50th anniversary this year.
MTDHN: How would you describe the CHAPPER healthcare business model?
JC: Until its acquisition by AscellaHealth in October 2024, CHAPPER healthcare operated as a family business founded by my father, who was a pharmacist. For the past 50 years, our core focus has been supplying medicines that are otherwise unavailable in the importing country.
There are various reasons why medicine may be available in one country but not in another, despite a patient’s need for those medicines. In some cases, it may be as simple as the fact that the patient population in the importing market is too small to justify registering the products in that market.
In other cases, the registered products available are experiencing a temporary shortage, and there’s a patient need to be met on a temporary basis. Additionally, the medicine may currently be registered in one or two countries, with a phased rollout underway globally. However, until that rollout and regulatory approval reach other regions, patients in those areas may still require access to that product.
At CHAPPER, we have been supplying these types of products globally to meet patient needs across six continents and approximately 75 countries over the course of our company’s five-decade history.
MTDHN: Can you provide more details on the specific pharmaceuticals or treatments you distribute? Are they specialty drugs and/or gene cell therapies?
JC: The range of drugs we distribute is very diverse.
Upon reviewing product distribution over a two-year period, our records confirmed that we supplied approximately 2,500 different drugs globally. Our portfolio is diverse and includes a range of products, from low-cost, generic options to high-value specialty medicines, including rare and orphan drugs. Over time, we’ve come to specialize and be more involved in the specialty pharmaceutical market.
However, in many respects, we remain agnostic to the therapeutic area that defines our vision. Our primary objective is to supply products to all patients, wherever and whenever they are needed.
MTDHN: Can you tell us about the supply chain processes and logistics that power the distribution opportunities that you employ throughout the world?
JC: Logistically, we are well-resourced and well-positioned. We have a UK warehouse with additional facilities in Ireland and Germany. This gives us a strong presence within the EU, allowing us to manage European distribution without products needing to pass through the UK – a significant advantage in the post-Brexit landscape.
One of the biggest logistical challenges we face is temperature control. Nearly every product we handle requires special storage conditions, and because we serve vast geographical areas, we must navigate extreme climate variations. For example, we might be delivering to parts of northern Europe in winter, where temperatures can drop as low as -20°C (-4°F). This creates challenges, especially for products that can’t be frozen or refrigerated or those that need to be kept strictly between 2 and 8°C.
Conversely, we also supply products to the Gulf region in the summer, where temperatures can soar to 50°C (122°F). We ensure all products remain within their required temperature ranges throughout transit so they arrive in optimal condition.
Speed of delivery is equally critical. These products are often life-saving medicines, and patients need them quickly. Sometimes, we can deliver within two or three days from the point we’re contacted.
For example, we recently worked with a pharmaceutical company to get a product from the UK to Switzerland for a cancer patient. They contacted us on a Thursday, and we ensured the product was delivered and ready for use by Saturday.
Conducting cross-border travel is a challenge because it takes additional time to transport the product. There are potential challenges with customs clearances and bottlenecks.
It is challenging, but this is the nature of our work. We thrive under this pressure and have been doing this for many years.
MTDHN: Tell us about your team. They must be incredibly trained or qualified to do all this type of work.
JC: Absolutely. We’re fortunate to have an exceptional team with a high level of diverse professional talent.
Our team is multicultural, with members who speak multiple languages within each unit – something we place great importance on. Even as English becomes more widely spoken and cultural barriers diminish, we continue to believe multilingual communication remains vital.
Everyone on our team is united by the common purpose of delivering medicine to the patients. We fully recognize the impact our work has on patients’ quality of life, and while we may be a few steps removed from the patients themselves, our teams are highly trained and experienced, driven by this shared commitment.
What we do is complex, but because we handle it every day, we’ve developed deep internal expertise that allows us to perform our tasks smoothly and efficiently. What might seem extremely difficult to others has become second nature to us through years of experience and dedication.
MTDHN: Are there doctors and pharmacists involved? What about warehouse personnel? How many employees do you have?
JC: We have approximately 35 employees, including pharmacists. The team is divided by function, including account management, customer service, warehouse, and logistics, as well as our support departments.
Most of our employees are based in the UK, but we also have colleagues in Ireland and our Dubai subsidiary.
MTDHN: Can you tell us about your clients and who they are? How would you characterize the manufacturers that you serve and how do they learn about you and the opportunities you offer?
JC: On the export wholesale side of the business, our customer base varies, ranging from large importers and large pharmacy chains to private hospitals, ministries of health, or ministries of defense.
Through our strategic alliances division, we serve as an exclusive distributor of specialty products to hospitals across the UK, Ireland, and other regions in Europe; supporting pharma manufacturers in supplying registered and regulatory-approved products.
In cases where a product is unlicensed in the UK, we collaborate with manufacturers to make that product available as unlicensed.
Additionally, our team provides export services for manufacturers, acting as their exclusive, centralized export pre-wholesale distributor. We then distribute these products to the appointed distributors across the world who operate in a wholesale capacity and resell the products within their respective markets.
MTDHN: Does CHAPPER participate in other business ventures?
JC: Yes, we are the acting president and a member of a European joint venture called EUROPACCESS, which provides services to manufacturers across the UK, Italy, Germany, Spain, and France, as well as other European regions.
EUROPACCESS provides end-to-end services for pharmaceutical manufacturers across the entire lifecycle of a product, including early access, dossier registration, pricing reimbursement market acceess, distribution and commercialization.
MTDHN: So you’ve been in business now for five decades. What attracted you to AscellaHealth?
JC: Weconsider ourselves very fortunate to have been approached for acquisition by an organization of AscellaHealth’s stature.
The interest came at an opportune time in our efforts to build, grow, and diversify our business. We were especially intrigued by the opportunity to join a U.S. company with a specialty pharmacy, as a growing number of U.S. manufacturers were seeking to commercialize their business in Europe.
With a robust pipeline of U.S. products, manufacturers, and ongoing research and development, this collaboration represented a significant opportunity for strategic growth. While we have already established a strong presence across the UK, Europe, and the Middle East, we had not yet expanded into the U.S. Partnering with AscellaHealth opened the door to a broader pipeline of U.S.-based products and manufacturers, enhancing our ability to meet the needs of patients worldwide.
MTDHN: What aspects of this relationship with AscellaHealth appeal to you personally and professionally?
JC: From a professional perspective, the acquisition by AscellaHealth was very much in alignment with our strategy. At CHAPPER, we were looking for a greater level of collaboration and interaction with the U.S. market.
We have gained the opportunity to help European companies and pharmaceutical manufacturers commercialize their products in the U.S. — it’s a bidirectional process. They’ve achieved tremendous growth over the last decade, and they are a very forward-thinking organization.
We have strategic alignment, but we’re also part of a broader group of companies that are still undergoing the type of growth journey that we are going through ourselves. We share a common understanding of what it takes to succeed. It wouldn’t have been the same experience if we had been acquired by a large life sciences company that wouldn’t have been able to relate to our company and business model. Together, we are part of a shared journey.
On a personal level, it’s incredibly exciting to work alongside a wider pool of talented colleagues who complement our existing team.
Our combined strengths expand distribution networks for pharmaceutical manufacturers, allowing products to be distributed globally. CHAPPER provides the infrastructure and global reach essential for worldwide distribution, while AscellaHealth contributes experienced professionals across various stages of the product commercialization lifecycle. Together, we complement each other’s capabilities without compromising our individual models, creating a truly synergistic partnership.
MTDHN: Would you now characterize this business as a global enterprise that is thinking globally and acting regionally?
JC: Yes, that was the thesis behind this acquisition. We now cover a significant portion of the global marketplace while maintaining a strong regional presence.
MTDHN: What is your vision for the growth of this enterprise? Is it going to diversify? Is it going to stay the course?
JC: Our vision for growth combines scaling up existing business lines and revenue streams while also pursuing greater diversification.
Our current distribution channels in the UK and Ireland, for example, are highly successful and have established a unique market niche. Following the acquisition by AscellaHealth, we’re positioned to further scale our activities in these markets and gain access to a broader network of manufacturers that can expand our operations.
In terms of diversification, we aim to provide additional services across the drug life cycle that complement our current offerings. By combining these strategies, we hope to build a more resilient and responsive business model. Our goal is to continue evolving with the needs of our partners and the patients we serve while maintaining the agility and focus that have defined our success to date.
We’re incredibly proud of the journey CHAPPER healthcare has taken over the past 50 years and excited about the road ahead as part of the AscellaHealth family. Together, I believe we’re well-positioned to further drive meaningful progress in global pharmaceutical access.