On April 1, the Kansas City-based Cerner Corporation announced that it had finalized the acquisition of Kantar Health, a division of the New York City-based Kantar Group, a research firm described on its website as “the world’s leading data, insights and consulting company.”
The completion of the acquisition was announced in a press release posted to Cerner’s website. As the press release noted, “Cerner Corporation today announced the acquisition of Kantar Health, a division of Kantar Group, for $375 million in cash, subject to adjustment. Kantar Health’s rich life sciences expertise will be combined with Cerner’s robust collection of real-world data (RWD) and technology and is expected to accelerate innovation in life sciences research and improve patient outcomes worldwide.”
The press release quoted Donald Trigg, Cerner’s president, as stating that “The promise of real-world evidence to power drug discovery is right in front of us. Kantar Health is an important next step in building out the capabilities our growing network of provider clients need to fundamentally change the time and cost for clinical trials.”
According to the press release, “The highly experienced teams at Kantar Health bring deep understanding of the needs of the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry. Their research and consulting solutions, complemented by Cerner’s RWD, position Cerner to help life sciences companies and research organizations with all aspects of the therapeutic lifecycle.”
Further, the press release noted, “The growing Cerner Learning Health Network(SM) client consortium, which today represents 92 million patients and 776 million clinical encounters, will be able to engage more with life sciences companies for funded research studies. A stronger collaboration between providers and the pharmaceutical industry is enabled through this acquisition. It will help researchers generate more health insights and use differentiated RWD assets and expertise to address the most complex clinical research questions. As a result of the transaction closing, the Kantar Health team located around the world is joining Cerner and will be integrated within its Strategic Growth business. This includes Kantar Health’s research and consulting solutions and global clients. Lynnette Cooke, head of Kantar Health, will continue to lead the team and join the Cerner leadership.”
And the press release quoted Cooke as stating that “Kantar Health and Cerner’s Strategic Growth business have a great deal in common, starting with a vision to advance patient care around the world. Culturally, we share the same values when it comes to how we develop our people, our offer and our client base. I’m excited to continue leading the team as we integrate with Cerner. I have great admiration for Cerner’s health technologies and am inspired by their strategic vision for future growth. Our collective capabilities and assets will enable the acceleration of innovation and elevate our expertise in addressing the most complex clinical research questions changing the way healthcare is developed and delivered.”
On December 16 of last year, after the announcement was made of Cerner’s plans to acquire Kantar Health, Fred Pennic of HIT Consultant wrote that “The combination of Cerner and Kantar Health is expected to enable a two-sided collaboration between providers and the pharmaceutical industry, where researchers can generate insights and use differentiated real-world data assets and expertise to address the most complex clinical research questions.
“Cerner launched the Learning Health Network with our provider clients to advance a shared vision: treat global diseases more effectively through an acceleration of clinical research,” said Donald Trigg, president, Cerner, at the time. “Kantar Health has incredible health economics and medical affairs expertise, differentiated real-world data assets and strong relationships with the world’s leading life science companies. It offers us an amazing opportunity to drive cross-industry collaboration that can change health outcomes around the world.”
In the same article, Pennic wrote that “This is the second announcement in this month expanding upon Cerner’s commitment to improving the safety and efficiency of clinical research in life sciences and health care. Last week we announced a relationship with Elligo which broadens the clinical trial resources available to rural and community hospitals and physician practices. This is significant to help broaden the diversity of individuals involved in clinical research, including those in minority populations and rural communities.”
