This month’s announcements of programs, names, appointments, hires, and other happenings includes items from Emmes, Science 37, Cerner and other companies.
This month’s announcements of new programs, names, appointments, hires, and other happenings includes items from Emmes, Science 37, Cerner and other key companies.
Following endpoint specialist ERT’s merger earlier this year with Bioclinica (a medical imaging firm), the combined company has been rechristened Clario. According to the leadership of the newly renamed company, it will focus on clinical trial innovation and improving healthcare.
"Clario is much more than the merger of two companies," said CEO Joe Eazor. "We have combined decades of scientific expertise and unrivaled global scale to create the broadest endpoint technology platform poised to expedite the clinical trial process, simplify trial experiences and unlock composite endpoints.”
Contract research organization Emmes is launching Orphan Reach, its new center geared toward advancing rare disease research. The center shares its name with the specialty CRO the company acquired in May 2021.
Emmes chief research officer Traci Clemons said, “Collectively, we have an incredibly strong team, bringing together deep global rare disease clinical operations capabilities with extensive scientific research experience across multiple rare disease indications. In areas such as ophthalmology, metabolic disorders, and gene therapies, Emmes has data and analytical origins spanning over four decades and a wealth of scientific publications.”
Clinical research platform provider Florence has announced the launch of its Digital Research Certification program. It consists of a free introductory course on clinical trials that industry professionals can enroll in.
"We're fortunate to have our platform installed at over 10,000 sites and hundreds of sponsors and contract research organizations [CROs] every day," said Charlotte Boyd, senior manager of community with Florence. "This gives us a broad view of how research professionals can prepare for the move to a digital research environment."
Phastar, a contract research organization, has hired Cary Morrill as chief people officer. Morrill brings to the company more than 25 years of human-resources and recruitment experience across a range of companies, including CROs.
“We are exceedingly pleased that Cary is joining our management team and bringing her exceptional expertise in people-focused strategies to further strengthen Phastar’s commitment to client services and global expansion,” said CEO Andrew MacGarvey. “She will continue to advance and embrace employee engagement, collaboration and communication among our diverse global offices to deliver quality and value to our clients as well as to support PHASTAR in maintaining an advantage in a very competitive industry.”
Contract research organization George Clinical has named researcher and neuropharmacologist Graham Birrell head of project operations for its APAC business. Birrell will be based in the Asia-Pacific region and oversee project teams in Australia, new Zealand, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, and other countries.
“Graham is a natural lead for our diverse APAC operations given his multifaceted background in operations, management and developing business with strategic clients,” said chief medical officer Maria Ali.
Decentralized trial tech firm Thread has acquired Modus Outcomes, a research consultancy. The acquisition reportedly is intended to join Thread’s eCOA platform with Modus’s service to help advance CRO decision-making and advance new therapies.
Thread CEO John Rites said, “With more sophisticated scientific designs, larger global scale and a greater focus on highly targeted patient subpopulations, the biopharmaceutical industry is increasingly shifting to DCT’s. Combining Modus’ industry-leading scientific and eCOA expertise with our technology platform enhances our solutions and advances our mission of providing customers with one comprehensive platform, delivering five times more inclusive research and enabling 30% more efficient DCTs.”
Healthcare technology firm Cerner has launched its Enviza operating unit, intended to offer data-driven solutions and research services to better understand data, via real-world evidence and insights. According to the company, Cerner’s expertise combined with that of Kantar Health is expected to accelerate discovery and development of therapies.
“The true promise of the digital age is to use data to improve everyday health around the world,” said David Feinberg, Cerner president and CEO. “We have to break down industry silos and evolve from simply accumulating data to generating meaningful insights that can accelerate therapy development; with Cerner Enviza, we can arm researchers with diverse tools and datasets to help them address these challenges and help change the way we develop and deliver care for our patients."
Cloud platform provider Medable has named Orlando Baeza as its first chief marketing officer. Baeza (with experience on initiatives for Nike, Adidas, BuzzFeed, and other firms) will oversee growth of the company’s brand presence in decentralized clinical trials.
Medable CEO and co-founder Michelle Longmire said, “Medable is striving to build a world where every person considers clinical trials as an option in their healthcare. Orlando’s deep experience building trusted and inspiring brands and creating categories will help us achieve that vision.”
Life-sciences tech firm X-Chem has acquired Glamorous AI, a company specializing in artificial intelligence solutions in drug discovery. According to X-Chem, the partnership will help progress machine-learning-driven drug discovery.
X-Chem also announced the acquisition of ComInnex, a provider of synthetic chemistry services and novel chemical technologies to support early-stage drug discovery. The acquisition reportedly will help the company meet growing demand in the global market.
Trial technology company Science 37 has announced it is now a publicly traded company on Nasdaq, under the ticker symbol SNCE. The news comes along with the close of its business combination with LifeSci Acquisition II Corp.
David Coman, Science 37 CEO, said, “The additional capital from this transaction will help us deliver on our vision to be the category-defining operating system that powers every clinical trial as the industry shifts to more agile trial designs.”
