IMS Health to merge with Quintiles

IMS Health and Quintiles have agreed a merger deal to combine their operations into a single information and technology-enabled pharma services provider.

The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2016, and the combined company - to be known as Quintiles IMS Holdings - will have a market value of almost $18bn, with IMS Health shareholders owning 51.4 % to Quintiles' 48.6%.

IMS Health's chairman and chief executive officer Ari Bousbib will hold the same roles once the company has merged, while Quintiles' chief executive Tom Pike will become vice chairman.

Pike said: “This combination addresses life sciences companies' most pressing needs: to transform the clinical development of innovative medicines, demonstrate the value of these medicines in the real world, and drive commercial success.”

Quintiles IMS said it intends to meet these needs by utilising its pooled information services and product development skills to streamline clinical trial design, recruitment and execution. The result, it says, will be increased productivity and accelerated access to newly-developed innovative therapies.

It also hopes to address universal healthcare issues of cost, value and patient outcomes through the creation of a “distinctive global real-world evidence (RWE) solutions platform”, tapping into a growing RWE market valued at around $80bn.

The two firms have been working in partnership in these areas since late last year, but it is this next step that will enable them to capitalise on each company's abilities and so “accelerate growth, yield greater operating efficiencies and provide more flexibility for future expansion”, says Bousbib.

IMS Health and Quintiles will retain their respective headquarters in Danbury, Conneticut, and Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, but will each contribute six directors to form a collective board of directors that will be led by Quintiles' founder Dr Dennis Gillings.

“We are bringing together two best-in-class leaders,” Pike said. “I'm confident that together we will make our clients even more successful.”