Medidata to acquire Clinical Force

Medidata Solutions (NASDAQ: MDSO), a leading global provider of SaaS-based clinical development solutions, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Clinical Force, a pioneer in providing SaaS-based clinical trial management systems (CTMS), for undisclosed proceeds. The acquisition is subject to various standard closing conditions and is expected to be completed early in Medidata's fiscal third quarter ending September 30, 2011.

“Clinical Force brings a new, different and better approach to CTMS with broad appeal to large clinical development organizations as well as the largely underserved mid-market sponsors and regional CROs”

Research sponsors and contract research organizations (CROs) are increasingly looking to reduce the financial and operational management burden of clinical trials, streamline clinical processes and increase visibility to timely information that enhances governance and decision-making. While software systems aiming to address these business challenges have typically required complex implementation projects with large upfront investments, lengthy timelines and ongoing maintenance costs, Clinical Force's alternative CTMS solution eliminates these risks, providing a proven technology to customers over the past seven years.

"Clinical Force brings a new, different and better approach to CTMS with broad appeal to large clinical development organizations as well as the largely underserved mid-market sponsors and regional CROs," said Tarek Sherif, chairman and CEO, Medidata Solutions. "The company's innovative offering strategically enhances our comprehensive SaaS platform, providing further opportunities for our customers to optimize key clinical, financial and operational processes, accelerate time to value and lower clinical development costs."

Based in the UK, with customers in North America, Europe and India including more than a dozen CROs, Clinical Force has successfully enabled its customers to readily adopt CTMS with a low-risk solution that is quick-to-deploy, easy-to-use, flexible and modular. Research organizations large and small can selectively and rapidly automate a wide range of processes, including time and expense management, milestone tracking, monitoring reports and clinical investigator payments. Current Clinical Force revenue is not material to Medidata in 2011, but it is expected to grow based on access to Medidata's global capabilities.

"By introducing a SaaS-based approach to CTMS, Clinical Force has changed the paradigm for how life science companies adopt and scale state-of-the-art clinical trial management technology within their organization," said Christopher Broderick, CEO, Clinical Force. "Joining forces with the leading SaaS clinical technology solutions provider will give our customers access to Medidata's global resources and best-in-class solutions."