ERT expands with Biomedical Systems acquisition

Company expects transaction to improve its ability to meet customers' needs for clinical trial imaging

Kelsey Kaustinen
Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
5:00
PHILADELPHIA—Global data and technology company ERT kicked off the week with the announcement that it has acquired St. Louis-based Biomedical Systems, which provides centralized diagnostic services for clinical trials. No financial details were disclosed.
 
“This acquisition complements our current capabilities and enables us to quickly scale and fully support our customers’ needs for consistent, accurate and verifiable imaging data without adding administrative burden to investigative sites,” said James Corrigan, president and CEO of ERT. “We are delighted to welcome Biomedical Systems to the ERT team, and look forward to a seamless transition and continuing to deliver market-leading offerings that solve our clients’ most complex challenges.”
 
Biomedical Systems has its corporate headquarters in St. Louis, with European headquarters in Brussels and additional offices in Japan, China and India. The company offers clinical trial services in the areas of cardiac, imaging, pulmonary, electronic clinical outcome assessment (eCOA) and scientific affairs. Its imaging experience includes the therapeutic areas of cardiology, endocrinology, respiratory and oncology.
 
“By merging ERT’s high-tech imaging capabilities and Biomedical Systems’ expertise from supporting over 500 imaging trials, the combined organization delivers the optimal solution to overcome complex challenges in clinical research,” commented Tim Barrett, CEO of Biomedical Systems. “We’re excited to apply our combined 70 years of experience to further help clinical trial sponsors and CROs accelerate clinical development and bring new medicines to market more efficiently.”
 
This acquisition complements a related transaction by ERT from back in May, in which the company shared that it had acquired ImageIQ, which was originally Cleveland Clinic's Biomedical Imaging and Analysis Center. The cloud-based imaging solution “enables ERT to offer advanced, end-to-end clinical trial imaging analysis using best-in-class technology that delivers compliant data for use in clinical development,” the company noted in a press release at the time.
 
In addition, ERT also announced this week that it has a new offering available: its Express Overread service for clinical trials requiring spirometry and pulmonary function testing (PFT), including those that collect fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO), diffusing capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide (DLCO), lung clearance index (LCI) data, electrocardiogram (ECG), home spirometry and eCOA data.. Express Overread provides customers with a centralized overread of PFT results in an hour or less, which helps clinical trial sites to rapidly select patients that are eligible for inclusion in clinical trials. The service is available for all trials that use EXPERT, ERT's platform for centralized clinical trials. With it, customers can have faster enrollment and
 
 
“Respiratory drugs are among the most expensive to develop, primarily due to the challenges investigative sites face in identifying eligible patients and following accurate clinical trial data collection processes,” said Achim Schülke, Executive Vice President, Respiratory Solutions at ERT. “By accessing PFT overread feedback within one hour or less, investigative site personnel can make accurate inclusion or exclusion determinations while the patient is still in the office, reducing the risk of randomizing the wrong patients, which often results in skewed data and longer development timelines.”
 
“With costs for new clinical development continuing to rise, sponsors and CROs are looking for ways to bring new medications to market faster and more efficiently,” Schülke added. “By enabling investigative sites to quickly identify and enroll only those patients who meet inclusion criteria, our customers can accelerate clinical development timelines and more quickly bring new drugs to the patients who need them.”
 
Express Overread is available for all clinical trials that use EXPERT, ERT’s platform for centralized clinical trials.

Kelsey Kaustinen

Subscribe to Newsletter
Subscribe to our eNewsletters

Stay connected with all of the latest from Drug Discovery News.

March 2024 Issue Front Cover

Latest Issue  

• Volume 20 • Issue 2 • March 2024

March 2024

March 2024 Issue