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| BioClinica CEO John Hubbard |
BioClinica has broadened the scope of its clinical trial software suite by acquiring Clinverse. The deal gives BioClinica access to software to support financial aspects of clinical trials, a niche that Clinverse has carved out a prominent position in since setting up shop in 2008.
Durham, NC-based Clinverse has built its business around ClinPay, software designed to cut the time it takes to get trials underway by taking some of the labor out of the investigator payment process. Clinverse has built out its offerings with additional products, such as software to generate forecasts of clinical trial budgets and services. Now, with the backing of new owner BioClinica, which has been in an acquisitive mood since it was taken private in a $123 million private equity deal in 2013, Clinverse thinks it is positioned to escalate its ambitions.
"We're going to be able announce some very large opportunities and relationships," Clinverse CEO Jay Trepanier told The News & Observer. Some of these opportunities were just beyond the grasp of Clinverse prior to the takeover. Trepanier said several large companies had expressed an interest in signing up to work with Clinverse, only for the software provider's relatively small size to give them pause. As part of BioClinica, a much larger, more established company, Trepanier thinks Clinverse now has the credibility to land these bigger fish.
This line of thinking was one of the reasons Clinverse accepted the offer from BioClinica. The process began when Clinverse hired an investment banker to weigh whether it would be best served by raising additional money or selling up. Clinverse ultimately spoke to around 10 companies, several of which made offers, Trepanier said, before deciding it was best served by becoming part of BioClinica. Trepanier will continue to lead the unit as part of BioClinica's eHealth Solutions division. The plan is to double Clinverse's headcount, which currently stands at 60, over the next year.
- read the release
- here's The News & Observer's article
- and FierceCRO's take