Indegene to acquire consulting firm DT, increasing service and EU footprint

The life sciences services company Indegene has agreed to acquire a majority stake in the UK-based consulting company DT Associates, which focuses on areas such as customer experience and digital operations.

In an interview with pharmaphorum, Indegene’s CEO Manish Gupta said the move will bring further digital expertise to the company’s offering, and allow it to increase its footprint in Europe.

Based in Bangalore, Indegene already has a number of big pharma clients and the plan is to allow the company to help them transform their commercial and medical operations.

DT’s founders Dennis Van Rooij and Tim van Tongeren will join Indegene’s management team, and will also run DT as a separate entity under the agreement worth around $10 million.

London-based Indegene focuses on helping pharma companies with their customer experience and digital operations.

Indegene will step up its investment in DT Associates until it owns all of the UK firm in around three years’ time.

The move fits with Indegene’s strategy to acquire companies that add to its capabilities, rather than its scale, said Gupta.

In this case Rooij and van Tongeren will contribute to the company’s board, as well as bringing DT’s expertise in areas such as digital trials and patient experience.

Gupta said: “We can start engaging with clients much earlier in their journey. We also have two successful digital entrepreneurs joining the Indegene leadership team.”

Tim van Tongeren, managing partner and co-founder of DT, said: “It didn’t take a long time to realise Indegene and DT have a common vision for the future in Life Sciences.

“When differentiated customer experiences become the core business driver, you as a consulting and operations partner will be required to define, plan, implement and optimise this for clients. I believe we are uniquely positioned to do so end-to-end with our clients.”