PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 22 -- Cardinal Health, Inc., the leading provider of products and services supporting the health care industry, announces the addition of direct-to-consumer marketing and patient information printing capabilities at its Moorestown, NJ, facility. The additional printing services enable Cardinal Health to provide mail reply cards, unique pamphlets, brochures, pocket folders and bound books to pharmaceutical companies, further increasing its full-service outsourcing capabilities. "Cardinal Health is already the largest and most respected outsourcing services provider to the pharmaceutical industry, and we pride ourselves on being a working partner with clients by providing a full continuum of services, from drug development to marketing," comments Bill Mitchell, executive vice president/North American operations, packaging services. "The pharmaceutical industry continues to increase direct-to-consumer marketing momentum. By offering additional printing capabilities, we are providing clients greater control over the entire packaging and marketing process and helping to ensure consistency and quality of all communications pieces supporting a product." In response to demand, Cardinal Health made an investment of more than $5 million to offer the state-of-the-art printing capabilities. Clients will benefit from a quicker turn around and a geographically convenient location in the Northeast near many pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. The 30,000 square foot printing facility will be fully operational by early October. "The FDA regulates consumer communication relating to pharmaceutical products and often the window of time between approval and taking the product to market is very limited," continues Mitchell. "Simplifying this process by relying on one trusted partner allows clients to focus on the bigger picture as opposed to micromanaging the details." Cardinal Health's in-house design and graphics department will continue to work closely with marketing, print buyers, designers, package engineers and advertising agencies. Specific features include a KBA Karat 4-color digital sheetfed press (20"x29") with on-press printing plate imaging, in-line coating and run speeds up to line coating and speeds up to 10,000 sph; a KBA Rapida 6-color press (28" x 40") with in-line coating and speeds up to 15,000 sph automatic diecutting with stripping; folder gluing with pocket folder capabilities; and saddle stitching/trimming. Prepress capabilities include computer-to-plate imaging. Additional employees will be added to operate the presses, diecutters and stitcher.