Wilmington-based Pharmaceutical Product Development LLC (PPD) continues to grow its reach into the life sciences sector.

Company officials announced Tuesday that it has acquired Horsham, Pa.-based Acurian for an undisclosed amount, according to a news release.

Acurian is a full-service software analytics provider of clinical trial patient enrollment and retention solutions for the life sciences industry.
 
David Simmons, chairman and CEO of PPD, said the acquisition allows PPD officials to provide its customers with superior recruitment and enrollment services for patient trials.  

“As the biopharmaceutical industry continues to face increasing challenges with the time and cost of drug development, PPD is committed to bringing innovation to the clinical development process to deliver efficiencies for our customers,” Simmons said in a news release. “Acurian’s best-in-class approach to patient recruitment will be an excellent complement to PPD’s clinical development expertise. Acurian will enable PPD to provide clients industry-leading services that accelerate patient enrollment and support their strategies for data-driven feasibility, site selection and enrollment delivery.”

Acurian will continue to operate under its own name as a separate business unit with its existing management team led by Rick Malcolm, who has served as Acurian’s CEO since 2005, according to the news release.

“We are excited about the opportunity to become part of a leading global contract research organization,” Malcolm said in a news release. “Combining Acurian’s 15 years of experience in successfully innovating to meet the challenges of patient enrollment, and retention with PPD’s full spectrum of drug development services, will enable us to merge the expertise of both organizations and offer clients unique solutions for clinical trial feasibility studies and patient recruitment and retention.”