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The acquisition of CHITA by Medidata will create a new cloud-based clinical data powerhouse.
IT company CHITA, led by former Elan CIO Kevin Barrett, has been acquired by biotech data analysis player Medidata. Its technology will be integrated with cloud platform giant Box.
In 2013, Athlone-based biotech giant Elan transferred its IT operations, processes and assets to Daybreak, which became a new, privately held company.
Elan also agreed to outsource its IT functions to the spin-out company.
Daybreak, which has since rebranded as CHITA, announced plans to create 50 jobs in Dublin the same year.
Evolving to the cloud
CHITA was formed to provide a full suite of IT managed services in all aspects of the biotechnology industry.
Its technology has since evolved to become a cloud-based content management and collaboration system built on the Box platform.
Medidata, a New York-based and Nasdaq-listed provider of data analytics for clinical research, acquired CHITA for an undisclosed sum that is understood to be all-cash.
The acquisition is expected to close this month.
Headquartered in San Mateo, California, CHITA was previously chaired by ITLG founder and chairman John Hartnett. Barrett, the company CEO, is included on the ITLG’s SV50 listing of the most powerful Irish and Irish-American executives in Silicon Valley.
CHITA allows users to create, store, view, edit and jointly work on both regulated and non-regulated content in a single application with cutting-edge UX capabilities.
“The life sciences industry has long struggled with manual, siloed processes for document and content management, creating significant challenges that delay trial timelines and impact overall time to market,” said Tarek Sherif, CEO of Medidata.
“Adding document and content management solutions to our platform – leveraging the combined strengths of Medidata, CHITA and Box – will address those challenges, delivering a seamlessly integrated and intuitive user experience.”
Medidata will also partner with Box to develop a suite of breakthrough products for regulated document management built on Box Platform, including electronic trial master file (eTMF) and standard operating procedure software solutions.
“Our vision for CHITA stemmed from a keen understanding of the intricacies and pain points of content management in clinical trials today,” said Barrett.
“That’s why we worked closely with Box to develop an integrated, extremely intuitive and user-friendly system that can accommodate all document types, both regulated and non-regulated.
“Now, in joining Medidata – the industry’s leading clinical trial technology company and a trusted strategic partner to nearly 800 life sciences companies worldwide – we are able to enhance our offering even further, leveraging Medidata’s deep industry expertise to break into the eTMF market,” Barrett added.
