With Medidata, Dassault to create ‘virtual twins’ of the human body

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(Image: Getty/Natali_Mis) (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Dassault Systèmes’s $5.8bn acquisition of Medidata is complete – opening up ‘a new world of virtual twin experiences’ for health care, according to the French software firm.

Dassault Systèmes last week completed its acquisition of Medidata. As per the agreement, initially announced in June of this year, Dassault acquired all of Medidata’s issued and outstanding common shares for $92.25 per share in cash – a total enterprise value of approximately $5.8bn.

In the month following, Dassault announced that its Living Heart Project was moving forward with an in silico clinical trial underway and plans to evaluate the use of virtual patients as part of a five-year contact with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“The virtual world will push the bounds of possibilities to transform not only research and science, but also the entire pharmaceutical and medical device industry and medicine, in general. We made virtual twins of cars and airplanes possible. We will do the same for the human body,” said Bernard Charlès, vice chairman and CEO of Dassault Systèmes, in a statement addressing the completed transaction.

Dassault Systèmes’ ‘3DExperience platform’ combines modeling, simulation, data science, and artificial intelligence (AI).

“By combining data intelligence and simulation, we power smarter therapeutics for healthier people,” added Charlès. “The inclusive and multi-discipline 3DExperience platform will be key for health care innovators to anticipate and address the needs of the industry’s transformation toward affordable precision health care in the 21st century,”

The France-based company described the integration of Medidata as ‘rapid.’ With the deal now complete, Medidata is operating as a Dassault brand, boosting the company’s life sciences business to become its second-largest unit, after transportation and mobility.