Cerner formed an agreement to acquire Kantar Health, the clinical research division of data and consulting company Kantar Group, for $375 million, according to a Dec. 16 news release.
Five details:
1. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2021 and is not anticipated to have a material impact on Cerner's earnings in 2021.
2. Kantar Health provides data, analytics and commercial research consulting services to life sciences clients. The New York City-based company offers data products to help advance research in oncology and rare diseases, among other conditions.
3. With the acquisition, the Kansas City, Mo.-based EHR company plans to increase its data capabilities for the Cerner Learning Health Network, which aims to make de-identified clinical data accessible to healthcare and pharmaceutical organizations for medical studies.
4. The combination of Cerner and Kantar Health is expected to increase collaboration between providers and pharmaceutical organizations so researchers can pull data from various outlets to expand clinical research efforts.
5. More than 50 health systems have joined the Cerner Learning Health Network since its launch in February.