Verily Hits New Milestone by Making an Acquisition

It’s a safe bet that Verily has been involved in nearly every aspect of healthcare. Yet the Alphabet company hasn’t been readily involved in a crucial component of the space - M&A. That is, until now.  

The South San Francisco, CA-based company said it has entered into an agreement to acquire SignalPath, to strengthen its existing clinical trial system and evidence generation platform, known as Baseline.

The Raleigh, NC-based company has developed the SignalPath platform, a clinical trial management system (CTMS) that improves the ease, quality, and efficiency of conducting clinical research at study sites.

SignalPath's platform reduces fragmentation by leveraging a modern software architecture with a cloud-based platform to optimize the management of a study site's clinical trials portfolio.

"Joining forces helps to accelerate and scale our shared vision, increase efficiency and lower costs in clinical trials, empower clinical research sites with world class technology, and ultimately bring medicines to patients faster," said Amy Abernethy, MD, PhD, President of Clinical Studies Platforms at Verily. "It's our goal to modernize the way clinical trials are conducted for patients, researchers and sponsors alike. Together, we will advance digital solutions to improve ease, quality, efficiency and speed in the current clinical trial paradigm."

Verily has had some significant milestones in the past few months. Late last year, the company raised $700 million in an investment round that would help it accelerate key initiatives such as the Baseline Platform and its Health Platforms.

Earlier this month, Verily announced it would be teaming up with Colgate-Palmolive to conduct a study determining the new connections between oral health and overall health.

It hasn’t been all smooth sailing. FDA rejected a bid for Verily to add a virtual motor exam to help track the progression of Parkinson’s to the company’s research smartwatch.

FDA noted in a letter that it was rejecting the request because there were concerns about the ability to interpret changes on the VME III measured by the Verily Study Watch as representing meaningful change in patients’ ability to function.