Investment firm GI Partners to acquire minority interest in Clinical Ink

Private equity investment firm GI Partners has announced that it will acquire a minority interest in global clinical trial technology Clinical Ink.

Clinical Ink, which captures and integrates electronic data from clinical sites via its Lumenis platform, will now be owned by the investment firm.

However, Clinical Ink’s existing stockholder NovaQuest will continue as a minority investor in the company, as well as Clinical Ink’s management team, which also ‘invested significantly in the transaction’.

Expected to close in the third quarter of this year, the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and other regulatory approvals.

Clinical Ink CEO Ed Seguine said: “GI Partners’ acquisition is a powerful validation of our eSource vision for clinical trials and will add to our growing momentum in the marketplace.

“We are the undeniable leader in delivering eSource solutions across all phases and therapeutic areas. This transaction will help accelerate the adoption of our business model at a time when the weaknesses and frailties of the current clinical technology landscape are so starkly apparent.”

Clinical Ink’s technology has so far been deployed in over 300 studies, in Phases I to IV.

The company’s technology has been used across 60 countries in 70 languages, and in more than 50 bring your own device (BYOD) studies.

GI Partners managing director Dave Kreter said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the industry’s timeline to put hybrid and decentralised trial technology into place. Clinical Ink has long been an eSource pioneer and we believe they are ideally positioned to lead this comprehensive improvement in the way clinical trials are conducted.

“The continued involvement of NovaQuest is a tremendous vote of confidence in the business and we look forward to building on their early successes.”

In June 2018, GI Partners signed an agreement to purchase Cord Blood Registry (CBR Systems) from AMAG Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company, for $530m in cash.