PPD Snaps Up Patient Recruitment Specialist Acurian
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed and Horsham, Pennsylvania-based Acurian will continue to operate under its own name and as a business unit of North Carolina’s PPD. The existing management team and Acurian CEO Rick Malcolm will remain in their positions.
“At this time, the acquisition is not expected to change employment levels at Acurian or PPD,” William Sharbaugh, COO of PPD, told Outsourcing-Pharma.com. “This investment in Acurian will enable us to provide our clients industry-leading services that accelerate patient enrollment and support their strategies for data-driven feasibility, site selection and enrollment delivery.”
Acurian helps sponsors manage the patient recruitment cycle through proprietary and predictive software analytics.
“PPD and Acurian both serve many large- and mid-sized pharma companies, and we work with a number of the same companies,” Sharbaugh said, noting both companies are restricted in how much they can discuss on specific clients.
Acurian, which has operated for 15 years, last month launched clinical trial enrollment reports with cost analyses for over 30 therapeutic areas. The analyses offer insight into the budget implications for specialty recruitment services when compared to adding trial sites and/or time.
“Acurian’s expertise spans multiple therapeutic areas, aligning with PPD's broad therapeutic area expertise,” Sharbaugh said.
Acquisition Fever
PPD’s acquisition of Acurian is the latest in a string of M&A this summer that is seeing the CRO industry consolidate further, as experts predicted in June.
Since those predictions were made, private equity firm KKR purchased PRA for about $1.3B, acquired RPS, and then merged PRA and RPS.
Quintiles, the world’s largest CRO, also jumped into the M&A game earlier this month when it purchased Novella Clinical.
