Iqvia reported revenue of $2.74bn in the second quarter (Q2), an increase of 6.7% compared to the same period in 2018.
Ari Bousbib, chairman and CEO of the company said the most recent quarter was “largely a repeat of the first quarter with continued strong momentum and similar outstanding financial and operational performance.”
The recent earnings call also discussed the amending of its 2019 revenue guidance. Mike McDonell, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Iqvia, stated that the company is raising its full-year 2019 revenue guidance from the range of $10.9bn and $11.25bn, to be between $11bn and $11.5bn.
“This update to our revenue guidance range is mainly driven by our year-to-date organic performance in technology and analytics solutions and a strong organic outlook in this segment for the rest of the year,” McDonell commented.
However, the company’s R&D business grew almost 15% year-over-year with a backlog of over $18bn.
A recent report saw the company leading the real-world evidence (RWE) market as well. The report stated that RWE generation use is predicated to increase 8-12% in the next two to three years. Compared to contract research organizations (CROs), Iqvia was leading the market nearly unchallenged. Bousbib explained, “Our clients are increasingly looking for a partner in the real-world space.”
The company also expects contract sales in medical solutions to show more growth in the second half of 2019.
As per its orchestrated customer engagement (OCE) solution, Bousbib said it did not contribute a large amount to Q2 revenue. However, he said, “the wins have just been occurring over the past 18 months and we are largely in the implementation phase.”
Looking to the future, Iqvia said it expects to see growth in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning with predictive analytics. “We’ve said before, we have the tools, we have the assets, we have the people and the technology to bring it together, and this is why we’ve been growing,” said Bousbib.
One of its solutions that uses technology like AI is NextGen, its smart trial solution. Bousbib said he is optimistic about the smart trials technology but it is still in its second or third inning and has a ways to go with somewhere around 50 pharma customers and 175 biotech customers having purchased the solutions for R&D. He said, "We've got dozens of clients. We have a ways to go and I think we've got a great runway."
Iqvia is also looking to the future with its investments in software development and business development and opportunities to move its technology solutions to market. "It's still a very highly competitive marketplace and we need to bring these solutions to market," said Bousbib. Investments in R&D have also been seen, particularly OCE, "Its a big area of investment, smart trial, automation, virtual trials. We've got more and more data scientists, and software development teams, all of those are headwinds."
Bousbib stated, "In summary, we delivered second-quarter results above or at the high end of our guidance ranges: technology and analytics solutions and R&D solutions sustained their strong momentum, CSMS continues to improve, and OCE now has over 50 wins with 20 added so far this year."