IMS Health has acquired Canada-based Privacy Analytics, a technology provider that enables healthcare organizations to unleash the value of sensitive data for secondary purposes without compromising personal health information. The acquisition will help IMS Health strengthen its robust Real-World Evidence (RWE) capabilities and advance the company’s ability to help life sciences clients drive R&D and commercial performance and demonstrate treatment value in real-world settings.
MS Health uses anonymous healthcare data to deliver critical, real-world disease and treatment insights. The acquisition will also help reinforce IMS Health’s role as a partner of choice for health systems, payers, providers and researchers as they seek new insights from healthcare data—with strong support for responsible privacy management. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Founded in 2007, the Ontario-based company offers an innovative suite of data governance software and advisory services that enable stakeholders to optimize benefits of the growing volume and availability of new, complex datasets while protecting patient privacy. Solutions include scalable tools for de-identifying and anonymizing structured and unstructured patient-level data.
Combining Privacy Analytics’ proprietary capabilities—a proven standard for safeguarding personal health information and ensuring privacy compliance—with IMS Health’s mission-critical anonymous information, data management capabilities, and scientific and commercial expertise will enhance the usability of real-world data globally.
Integration Details
According to the company announcement, IMS Health plans to integrate Privacy Analytics’ capabilities across its suite of solutions to develop innovative approaches and enhance existing methods for ensuring the responsible use of anonymous healthcare information. Additionally, the solutions will continue to be offered to Privacy Analytics and IMS Health clients as an independent suite of products.
“This acquisition strengthens our role as a leading patient privacy and data protection advocate while increasing the value clients across healthcare can realize from real-world evidence,” said Jon Resnick, vice president and general manager, RWE Solutions, IMS Health in the company announcement. “Applying this proven standard globally, we can unleash the full potential of end-to-end RWE insights, from clinical trials through commercial execution. Privacy Analytics extends our ability to connect healthcare stakeholders—ultimately helping to improve the health of patients and the care delivery systems serving them.”