CRF Health acquires Entra Health, establishes clinical trial data network

31-Jul-2016 - Last updated on 01-Aug-2016 at 16:01 GMT

(Image: iStock/123dartist)

The acquisition formalizes an existing relationship and expands the company’s offerings, allowing for “new levels of innovation,” says CEO.

According to CRF Health, the acquisition adds additional connectivity to the company’s eCOA technologies and establishes a network of solutions to collect, manage, and analyze biometric and clinical trial data.

“The interconnectivity allows for new levels of innovation around wearable technology and other internet connected devices,” Rachael Wyllie, CEO, CRF Health, told Outsourcing-Pharma.com, commenting that both companies believe strongly in a patient centric approach.

Entra Health specifically brings mobile health IT, cloud-based remote monitoring, health data exchange, and analytics solutions.

“The ability to combine different technologies in a manner which is seamless to the patient while reducing patient burden represents a significant advance in patient centered data collection,” added Wyllie.

“The Biopharmaceutical industry is leading the way in innovation around the patient, to improve patient outcomes, to justify the cost of new treatments and to prove the value of those treatments once marketed,” she explained.

Concurrently, Wyllie said that technology solutions have advanced significantly and will continue to advance with all clinical trial data eventually being collected digitally. She also said that while no one is certain what the landscape will look like in five years, CRF Health expects technology components will be interconnected from the electronic informed consent process to the database lock and “seamless in the everyday lives of patients.”

“There is a step change in the industry with regards to the use of data and by association the types of data which can be collected,” she explained, adding that the acquisition of Entra Health is a natural extension of this innovation.

However, the biggest challenge has been, and will be, “the generally conservative approach taken by the majority of the industry,” Wyllie said.

“The time is fast approaching where the need to innovate to speed development and reduce cost will far outweigh the conservative nature of the industry.”