European Commission clears merger between IMS and Quintiles

The European Commission has approved under the EU Merger Regulation a proposed merger between IMS Health (NYSE: IMS) and Quintiles (NYSE: Q), both of which are based in the USA.

IMS provides information and technology services to pharmaceutical, biotech, life science and healthcare companies. Quintiles provides product development services and commercial outsourcing services to support healthcare companies develop and commercialize new therapies globally.

The Commission concluded that the proposed transaction would raise no competition concerns. This is because the overlap between the companies' activities in the area of collection of data based on actual patient experiences and clinical practice (real word evidence) is very limited in the European Economic Area and a number of strong players will remain active in this market after the merger.