Medidata hit by $4.8m wire fraud, but says customer clinical trial data is safe
The cloud based data management company announced it had been the victim of wire fraud earlier today, explaining that a request to its finance department had result in the transfer of $4.8m to an unidentified account outside the US on September 16.
"The incident involved a fraudulent request targeting certain mid-level employees in the Company’s finance department, resulting in the transfer of $4.8 million to an overseas account. As a result, the Company expects to record a one-time charge of $4.8 million in its third quarter of 2014."
Medidata added that the fraud may result in additional costs, but did not provide further details. The US firm also said: "No customer data was involved in this matter and the Company’s systems were not impacted."
The firm has also called in “outside advisors” although it said it believes it has appropriate internal controls that are being reviewed as part of the investigation.
“The Company has contacted federal law enforcement authorities and has implemented additional internal procedures to prevent future incidents. While the outcome cannot be assured, the Company is seeking recovery of the funds and intends to file an insurance claim for its loss.”
Collaborators
Medidata’s assurances that customer clinical trial data was not accessed by the fraudsters will be welcome news for contract research organisation (CRO) Icon, which announced it had partnered with the IT firm on an electronic patient-reported outcomes (ePROs) project.
The news trial data was not involved will also be welcomed by Big pharma firms like AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson and GSK, which are all working with Medidata on the development of risk-based monitoring through industry group TransCelerate.
