French aerospace and defence major Dassault Systemes today announced the acquisition of Medidata Solutions, Inc, a leader in the digital transformation of the life sciences industry for clinical development, commercial, and real-world data intelligence, to expand its foot print into the life sciences platform.
Dassault System today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire Medidata in an all-cash transaction at a price of $92.25 per share of Medidata, representing an enterprise value of $5.8 billion, itslargest acquisition so far.
The transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies.
Dassault Systemes has been diversifying its technology and software businesses for the past several years and the acquisition of Medidata, follows its purchases of Trace Software and Argosim.
Medidata had reported revenues of $636 million for fiscal year ended 31 December 2018.
“With the acquisition of US-based Medidata and its clinical and commercial solutions, Dassault Systèmes will reinforce its position as a science-based company by providing the life sciences industry with an integrated business experience platform for an end-to-end approach to research and discovery, development, clinical testing, manufacturing and commercialization of new therapies and health technologies,” Dassault stated in a release.
“Today marks a significant milestone for the Life Sciences industry and the value of the virtual world to address the complexity of developing personalized medicine and patient-centric experiences. Multidiscipline scientific innovation and industrial performance call for a platform approach connecting the dots between people, ideas and data,” said Bernard Charlès, vice chairman and CEO, Dassault Systèmes.
“Medidata’s leading position in clinical trials complements our life sciences solutions on the 3D experience collaborative platform. Medidata’s recent expansion into real world evidence and analytics coupled with the power of modeling and simulation demonstrates how the virtual world will catalyze the next generation of patient-inclusive therapeutics. We are now well positioned to be the enabler of the Life Sciences industry transformation, illustrating our company’s purpose of harmonizing product, nature and life,” he added.
Medidata offers clinical expertise and cloud-based solutions to 1,300 customers worldwide, including pharmaceutical companies and biotechs, contract research organizations (CROs), and medical centers and sites, helping them improve efficiency and quality throughout clinical development programs.
Thirteen of the top 15 drugs sold in 2018 were powered by Medidata’s technology. Eighteen of the top 25 pharmaceutical companies and nine of the top 10 CROs are all Medidata customers, the release pointed out.
Founded in 1999, Medidata is headquartered in New York City, with 16 offices across seven countries, notably in the US, Japan, Korea, and the UK, and counts 2,800 employees and contractors.
“Our mission to get the right treatment, to the right patient, at the right time has fueled our 20-year journey of innovation and commitment to the life sciences industry,'' said Tarek Sherif, co-founder, chairman and CEO, Medidata. “We share common vision, values and passion with Dassault Systèmes, and our combined talents will empower the life sciences industry with an end-to-end business platform.”
“Facilitating new therapeutic innovations to become the next standards of care has been our commitment since day one,” said Glen de Vries, co-founder and president, Medidata. “Ultimately, we will unlock enormous opportunities for our customers and patients, advancing life sciences in the age of precision medicine.”
Dassault Systèmes has been steadily applying its knowledge and know-how for transforming the product sphere since 2012, to collaborative, multidisciplinary innovation in the biosphere.
Dassault Systèmes currently collaborates with the world’s top 20 biopharma companies, hundreds of biotechnology companies, medical device manufacturers, research institutes, and governmental regulatory agencies to develop and bring to market innovative health products and technologies, using the power of virtual universes to transform the patient experience.
Dassault expects the acquisition to be completed during the last quarter of 2019, subject to certain regulatory approvals, approval by the majority of Medidata’s shareholders and other customary closing conditions.