Clinical Ink, a provider of eSource solutions for clinical trials with offices in Philadelphia, Pa., and Winston-Salem, N.C., has merged with CentrosHealth, a Boston-based provider of configurable mobile apps for clinical trial patient engagement and electronic patient reported outcomes (ePRO), founded by MPM Capital.

The combination of Clinical Ink and CentrosHealth creates a clinical trial technology platform with the ability to conduct paperless clinical trials with purpose-built solutions for pharma companies, research sites and patients.

Clinical Ink also announced MPM Capital and F2 Ventures joined FCA Venture Partners and other existing investors to provide additional growth capital for Clinical Ink to aggressively expand operational capabilities and further develop the first truly paperless clinical trial platform.

Clinical Ink also entered into a strategic partnership with Novartis Pharmaceuticals, as part of its Trials of the Future initiative, to help drive industry-wide adoption of fully electronic clinical trials.

"The combination of Clinical Ink and CentrosHealth… creates a powerful opportunity to transform the clinical development business model," said Ed Seguine, CEO of Clinical Ink. "This multi-part transaction underscores the tremendous progress we've made and the future potential for our combined businesses to deliver innovative technology solutions that eliminate the root causes of clinical trial inefficiency. The involvement of Novartis is a significant validation of our pioneering efforts to create a completely paperless clinical trial platform and to reduce the cost, time and complexity of clinical research."

The merger with CentrosHealth advances Clinical Ink's mission to streamline clinical development with an expanded product portfolio that now includes a configurable suite of mobile patient engagement solutions that offer a platform to quickly and easily develop/deploy mobile apps to engage patients; improved compliance, retention and satisfaction by incorporating trial activities into everyday life by using patients' own devices, providing a more comprehensive and seamless user experience; and integration with remote medical devices to capture critical patient data between visits.

By using CentrosHealth and SureSource, Clinical Ink's purpose-built eSource platform for research sites, sponsors can receive all of their data, both from the site and the patient, in real time and can dramatically reduce cost, time and complexity. The Clinical Ink approach to eSource and mobile data capture has been endorsed by both FDA and EMA and is an integral component of novel risk-based monitoring approaches to clinical research oversight.

"The CentrosHealth approach to patient engagement is based on the simple premise that patients want to actively manage their participation in clinical research," said Jeremy Sohn, founder and CEO of CentrosHealth. "Our platform seamlessly integrates clinical trial activities such as medication reminders, visit scheduling, activity measurements and ePRO into patients' everyday life through personalized notifications, text messages, calendar integration and a highly functional mobile application on their personal cell phone."

Representatives from MPM Capital and F2 Ventures will join the existing board of directors of Clinical Ink.

"The pharmaceutical industry is at an inflection point in its embrace of mobile technologies," said Todd Foley, managing director MPM Capital. "The combined Clinical Ink/CentrosHealth platform delivers a truly new operating model for clinical trials of the future and represents the most compelling solution to improve the clinical trial process for sites, sponsors, CROs and patients involved in the $50 billion annual business of conducting clinical trials."