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PPD and Science 37® Strengthen Collaboration to Advance Decentralized Clinical Trials and Accelerate Development

April 27, 2021 Off By BusinessWire

Innovative approach enables PPD to deploy studies utilizing Science 37’s SaaS Platform

WILMINGTON, N.C. & LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–PPD, Inc. (Nasdaq: PPD), a leading global contract research organization (CRO), and Science 37, developer of the Decentralized Clinical Trial Operating System™ (DCT OS), today announced an innovative collaboration in which PPD will be fully enabled to design, build, test, implement and execute digital trials using Science 37’s DCT SaaS-based technology platform.

The extended arrangement, which is a result of their successful two-year collaboration under Science 37’s CRO Certified program, will enable PPD^® Digital to utilize Science 37’s configurable, SaaS-based DCT technology platform to design and implement Remote eConsent, eCOA, eSource and fully decentralized trials, which will enhance the company’s efficiency and effectiveness in delivering studies for customers.

“Our success with Science 37 has positioned us well to implement and incorporate its technology platform into our clinical trial services model, which is on course with our efforts to maintain a leadership position in the global transition toward decentralized clinical trials,” said Niklas Morton, senior vice president, PPD Digital. “Our overall DCT strategy is to offer customers more trial delivery options, particularly in a stepwise fashion where the customer can experience both traditional and digital approaches to sites and patients in the same study. Through our evolving collaboration, we will be able to use the Science 37 platform to provide our customers with a best-in-class service and delivery model.”

PPD Digital provides flexible trial solutions across the decentralized spectrum to increase patient access and improve the patient experience, resulting in time efficiencies and data quality enhancements that can help speed development timelines. These services significantly reduce the burden for patients, mainly through fewer site visits, while providing clients with greater geographic reach through reduced reliance on sites, more timely access to data, improved quality and consistency, and better patient engagement.

“Science 37 intends to be the operating system to enable all decentralized clinical trials,” said Steve Geffon, chief commercial officer of Science 37. “By enabling PPD Digital to utilize our innovative platform, we’re able to extend our reach and enable decentralization on more trials than ever before. Our new SaaS-based technology makes it easy to deploy Remote eConsent, eCOA, eSource and fully decentralized trials, even when it’s not part of the complete Science 37 DCT Operating System, which includes patient communities, telemedicine investigators, mobile nurses, remote coordinators and connected devices.”

Last month, PPD was recognized for industry leadership in digital and decentralized clinical trial solutions by Information Services Group (ISG), a leading global technology research and advisory firm. ISG named PPD an ISG Provider Lens Leader for the CRO’s digital transformation services, specifically PPD’s clinical development and patient engagement solutions.

In 2019, PPD led the series D financing round for Science 37 and created a partnership to offer virtual sites that can augment traditional brick-and-mortar sites. This early investment has enabled PPD to solution protocol development and protocol adjustment processes to facilitate DCT design flexibility; optimize the study startup process and workflow to ensure faster site activation timelines; leverage the PPD business Accelerated Enrollment Solutions to maximize patient recruitment potential; and integrate data acquisition at sites with PPD’s data management and Preclarus^® platform to ensure real-time data access across all sites.

About PPD

PPD is a leading global contract research organization providing comprehensive, integrated drug development, laboratory, and lifecycle management services. Our customers include pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, academic, and government organizations. With offices in 47 countries and more than 27,000 professionals worldwide, PPD applies innovative technologies, therapeutic expertise, and a firm commitment to quality to help customers bend the cost and time curve of drug development and optimize value in delivering life-changing therapies to improve health. For more information, visit www.ppd.com.

About Science 37

Science 37 enables universal access to clinical research—making it easier for patients and providers to participate and accelerating the development of new and innovative treatments that impact patient lives. With the Decentralized Clinical Trial Operating System™ (DCT OS), we enable workflow orchestration, evidence generation, and data harmonization on a unified, seamless platform—configurable to enable any study and fused with our expansive networks of telemedicine investigators, mobile nurses, remote coordinators, patient communities and connected devices. For more information, visit https://www.science37.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements. These statements often include words such as “expect,” “believe,” “project,” “forecast,” “estimate,” “target” and other similar expressions. Although we believe these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions at the time they are made, you should be aware that many factors could affect our actual financial results, and therefore actual results might differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that might materially affect such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the fragmented and highly competitive nature of the drug development services industry; changes in trends in the biopharmaceutical industry; our ability to keep pace with rapid technological changes that could make our services less competitive or obsolete; political, economic and/or regulatory influences and changes; the risks related to the planned acquisition of PPD by Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.; and other factors disclosed under the “Risk Factors” section in our periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including our latest Annual Report on Form 10-K, which is available on our website at https://investors.ppd.com or the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. We assume no obligation and disclaim any duty to revise or update any forward-looking statements, or make any new forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.