Parexel buys Vitrana to boost patient safety toolkit

Contract research organisation Parexel has bought Vitrana and its AI-powered pharmacovigilance platform for an undisclosed sum.

In a statement, Parexel said the acquisition expands its technology capabilities in pharmacovigilance with a system-agnostic platform that can integrate with any safety database and makes use of both automation and AI to monitor products across their lifecycle.

Pharmacovigilance (PV) – used to track pharmaceutical safety from clinical trials to the post-marketing setting – has undergone dramatic changes in the last few years thanks to AI and other digital technologies.

It has transformed from a largely manual process, with a lack of integration with real-world data sources, to one that can use digital technologies to tap into new methods for data collection, management, and analysis, making pharmacovigilance workflows quicker and more efficient. That has allowed the discipline to shift from a reactive activity, which can be plagued by inconsistent reporting, to one based on proactive monitoring.

That potential is driving the market for AI-enabled pharmacovigilance, which, according to market analysis firm Grand View Research, will grow from a value of $7.95 billion in 2025 to $11.78 billion in 2030, a compound annual growth rate of 6.5%. The growth is being driven by factors, including the use of combination therapies for chronic diseases.

Parexel – which is one of the world's largest CROs - said Vitrana's platform improves the accuracy and cycle time of projects and delivers "measurable and sustainable efficiencies."

"With Vitrana, we can now offer customers a single partner for both PV technology and services – and that changes what we can deliver for them," commented Sanjay Vyas, president of patient safety services and clinical logistics at Parexel.

"Our customers will benefit from best-in-class, technology-enabled PV services that handle growing regulatory volume and complexity, enhance compliance, streamline workflows, and enable experts to focus on what matters most: product and patient safety," he added.

Vitrana – which says it has 18,000-plus active platform users across more than 90 countries – will operate within Parexel's Patient Safety Services organisation.

The CRO has been privately held since it was acquired in 2017 for $5 billion by Pamplona Capital Management, and changed hands in 2021 when it was bought by EQT Private Equity and Goldman Sachs Asset Management for $8.5 billion.