IRB consolidation: Advarra acquires Quorum Review and Kinetiq

05-Mar-2019 - Last updated on 05-Mar-2019 at 17:10 GMT

(Image: Getty/metamorworks)

The institutional review board industry sees further consolidation as Advarra acquires Quorum and its research and technology consulting division, Kinetiq.

Columbia, MD-headquartered Advarra is an institutional review board (IRB) and institutional biosafety committee (IBC) providing research quality and compliance consulting services.

The company today has announced its acquisition of Quorum, a central IRB operating in the US and Canada. The transaction – financial terms of which were not disclosed – also includes Kinetiq, Quorum’s research and technology consulting division.

Quorum’s Seattle office will support mutual Advarra customers on the West Coast, while also augmenting Advarra’s offices in Columbia, MD, Cincinnati, Research Triangle Park, NC, Malvern, PA, as well as Ontario, Canada.

Quorum and Kinetiq and all employees will be acquired under the Advarra legal entity and Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN).

“We feel it is important to unify the organization under the single Advarra brand to underscore our commitment to providing comprehensive, integrated research compliance solutions,” said Advarra CEO Pat Donnelly.

“A single brand name removes confusion for clients and lets us unite our mutual strengths toward the shared goal of protecting research participants and helping minimize compliance risk,” he told us.

Donnelly said the integration of Quorum improves Advarra’s capabilities and adds “a great deal of expertise.”

IRB consolidation

Chesapeake IRB and Schulman IRB merged in 2017 to form Advarra, which now serves more than 3,000 research institutions, hospital systems, and academic medical centers.

The deal followed the implementation of a National Institutes Health (NIH)-issued policy on the use of a single IRB for multi-site research. NIH guidelines also require approval from both an IRB and institutional biosafety committee (IBC) for research involving genetic engineering.

Also in 2017, Chesapeake IRB announced back-to-back acquisitions of two Rockville, MD-based, independent IRBs, Institutional Biosafety Corporation (IBC) and MaGil IRB.

Moving forward, Donnelly said the company will continue to investigate opportunities “to support its position as a leading global regulatory compliance organization.”