IMS Health was an American company that provided information, services and technology for the

healthcare industry The healthcare industry (also called the medical industry or health economy) is an aggregation and integration of sectors within the economic system that provides goods and services to treat patients with curative, preventive, rehabilitative, ...

. IMS stood for Intercontinental Medical Statistics. It was the largest vendor of U.S. physician prescribing data. IMS Health was founded in 1954 by Bill Frohlich and David Dubow with Arthur Sackler having a hidden ownership stake. In 2010, IMS Health was taken private by TPG Capital, CPP Investment Board and Leonard Green & Partners. The company went public on April 4, 2014, and began trading on the NYSE under the symbol IMS. IMS Health was headquartered in Danbury,

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. Over 2016 Quintiles and IMS Health merged, and the resulting company was named QuintilesIMS, which was renamed to IQVIA in 2017.

Business model

IMS Health was best known for its collection of healthcare information spanning sales, de-identified prescription data, medical claims,

electronic medical records An electronic health record (EHR) is the systematized collection of electronically stored patient and population health information in a digital format. These records can be shared across different health care settings. Records are shared thro ...

and

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

. IMS Health's products and services were used by companies to develop commercialization plans and portfolio strategies, to select patient and physician populations for specific therapies, and to measure the effectiveness of

pharmaceutical marketing Pharmaceutical marketing is a branch of marketing science and practice focused on the communication, differential Positioning (marketing), positioning and commercialization of pharmaceutical products, like specialist drugs, Biotechnology in pharma ...

and sales resources. The firm uses its own data to produce syndicated reports such as market forecasts and market intelligence.

History and acquisitions

The original name of the company was Intercontinental Marketing Statistics, hence the IMS name. IMS Health's corporate headquarters is located in Danbury,

, United States. The company's chairman and CEO is Ari Bousbib. * In 1998, the parent company, Cognizant Corporation, split into two companies: IMS Health and Nielsen Media Research. After this restructuring, Cognizant Technology Solutions became a public subsidiary of IMS Health * In 2002, IMS Health acquired Cambridge Pharma Consultancy, a privately held international firm that provides strategic advice to pharmaceutical management. * In 2002, IMS Health acquired the Rosenblatt Klauber Group, a privately held international consultancy that provides forecasting, opportunity assessment & management development services to pharmaceutical companies. * In 2003, acquired Marketing Initiatives, a specialist in healthcare facility profile data, and Data Niche Associates, a provider of rebate validation services for

Medicaid Medicaid is a government program in the United States that provides health insurance for adults and children with limited income and resources. The program is partially funded and primarily managed by U.S. state, state governments, which also h ...

and managed care. In 2003, IMS Health sold its entire 56% stake in

Cognizant Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational information technology consulting and outsourcing company originally founded in India. It is headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey, United States. Co ...

and both companies are separated into two independent entities as IMS Health and

* In 2004, United Research China Shanghai was acquired, providing coverage of China's consumer health market. * In 2005, acquired PharMetrics, a U.S. provider of patient-centric integrated claims data. * In 2006, acquired the Life Sciences practice of Strategic Decisions Group, a portfolio strategy consultant to the life sciences industry. * In 2007, IMS Health acquired IHS and MedInitiatives, providers of healthcare data management analytics and technology services. That same year, ValueMedics Research was acquired, extending IMS Health's

health economics Health economics is a branch of economics concerned with issues related to Health care efficiency, efficiency, effectiveness, value and behavior in the production and consumption of health and healthcare. Health economics is important in dete ...

and outcomes research capabilities. * In 2007, ranked in the ''Businessweek'' 50. This list represents "best in class" companies from the ten economic sectors that make up the

S&P 500 The Standard and Poor's 500, or simply the S&P 500, is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 leading companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices and in ...

. * In 2008, named to the World's Most Admired Companies list by ''Fortune''. The company received the recognition again in 2010. * In 2008, acquired RMBC, a provider of national pharmaceutical market intelligence and analytics in Russia. * In 2008, acquired the Skura professional services group, based out of

Mississauga Mississauga is a Canadian city in the province of Ontario. Situated on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, it borders Toronto (Etobicoke) to the east, Brampton to the north, Milton to the northwest, ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada and specialized in data integration, consulting and services in business intelligence platforms to pharmaceutical and healthcare clients in North America and Europe. * In 2009, named to the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index in recognition of the company's economic, environmental and social performance among the largest 600 North American companies. * In February 2010, IMS Health was taken private by

TPG Capital TPG Inc., previously known as Texas Pacific Group and TPG Capital, is an American private equity firm based in Fort Worth, Texas. TPG manages investment funds in growth capital, venture capital, public equity, and debt investments. The firm in ...

CPP Investment Board The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB; ), operating as CPP Investments (), is a Canadian Crown corporation established by way of the 1997 ''Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act'' to oversee and invest the funds contributed to and h ...

, and Leonard Green & Partners. * In 2010, acquired Brogan, Inc., a privately held market research and consulting firm serving the Canada healthcare market. * In 2011, expanded its specialty and patient-level data assets in the United States with the acquisition of SDI Health. Also that year, the company acquired Ardentia Ltd in the UK, and Med-Vantage in the United States to build on its payer services in those markets. * In 2012, acquired PharmARC Analytic Solutions Pvt. Ltd, a

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

-based analytics company. * In 2012, acquired DecisionView, a software solutions company that helps life sciences organizations plan and track patient enrollment for

clinical trial Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human subject research, human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel v ...

s and TTC, a

benchmarking Benchmarking is the practice of comparing business processes and performance metrics to industry bests and best practices from other companies. Dimensions typically measured are Project management triangle, quality, time and cost. Benchmarking is ...

solutions and analytics company that helps clients plan for and negotiate the costs of clinical trials. Also in 2012, the company purchased PharmaDeals Ltd., a provider of online information about business transactions, licensing, and

mergers and acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

activity within the pharmaceutical industry. * In 2013, acquired several companies to expand its portfolio of

SaaS Software as a service (SaaS ) is a cloud computing service model where the provider offers use of application software to a client and manages all needed physical and software resources. SaaS is usually accessed via a web application. Unlike oth ...

products: Incential Software, a provider of sales performance management technology services; 360 Vantage, which delivers multi-channel CRM software capabilities; Appature, which offers a relationship marketing platform; and Semantelli, a provider of social media analytics for the global healthcare industry. * In May 2015, IMS increased its software development capability by acquiring Dataline Software Ltd, a bespoke software development company and big data research specialist in the UK. * In April 2015, IMS Health completed the purchase of Cegedim's Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software and Strategic Data business for €396 million. Cegedim acquired the software and related business when it purchased Dendrite International in 2007. * In August 2015, IMS Health completed the purchase of Boston Biomedical Consultants, a provider of market data and market research covering the in vitro Diagnostics market * In May 2016, the company announced it would merge with Quintiles IMS Health shareholders received 0.384 shares of Quintiles common stock for each share of IMS Health common stock they held, leaving the split of ownership at 51.4% IMS and 48.6% Quintiles. The merger was completed in October and the resulting company was a $17.6 billion company called QuintilesIMS. *On November 6, 2017, the company adopted the new name of IQVIA.

Controversy

Throughout its history, IMS Health's business of collecting anonymized pharmaceutical sales data came under scrutiny from both the media and the legal system. ''IMS Health v. Ayotte'' was a free speech case involving IMS Health. Sorrell v. IMS Health Inc. was a case about physician-

data privacy Information privacy is the relationship between the collection and dissemination of data, technology, the public expectation of privacy, contextual information norms, and the legal and political issues surrounding them. It is also known as data ...

, which went to the U.S. Supreme Court., the High Court ruled in favor of the company.Gayland Hethcoa
Regulating Pharmaceutical Marketing After Sorrell v. IMS Health Inc.
Quinnipiac Health Law Journal. 2012 Vol. 15:187

References

External links

IMS websiteClinical Trial Analytics
{{Authority control Health care companies established in 1954 Health care companies based in Connecticut Companies based in Danbury, Connecticut Market research companies of the United States Defunct research and analysis firms Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange 2010 mergers and acquisitions 2014 initial public offerings 2016 mergers and acquisitions Business services companies established in 1954