United BioSource Corporation (UBC) completed its second acquisition in two weeks with the purchase of Gigamoto Technology Partners, a Pennsylvania-based software company specializing in drug safety and risk management, for an undisclosed sum.

UBC has worked with Gigamoto and its founder, Jason Leedy, for several years. Under the terms of the acquisition, Leedy and Gigomoto’s 40 employees will become a part of UBC’s staff of almost 1,300 within the company’s Pennsylvania office.

UBC acquired cognitive testing services company Cognitive Drug Research earlier this month. Whereas that deal focused on expanding UBC’s services in the cognitive testing arena, this latest acquisition will build on UBC’s capabilities in the area of risk management and drug safety technology solutions.

UBC executive vice president Patrick Lindsay, who will now oversee Gigamoto’s operations, calls the deal a complement to UBC’s technology business, which focuses on peri-and post-approval drug development.

“In that arena, what’s really been happening is that safety is a key driver industry-wide. It’s not just from a pharma perspective. It’s from an industry perspective, regulatory perspective, from a physician perspective, from a patient perspective. Everyone is highly alerted and continually aware of safety today, and that continues to grow,” Lindsay said. 

Gigamoto software is used for a number of global risk management programs that connect patients, physicians and payers. Perhaps the company’s best-known application is for the FDA-mandated program iPLEDGE. The program, used to monitor pregnancy in women who are taking Accutane, connects more than 40,000 pharmacies, 16,000 prescribers and 30,000 patients through an interactive, web-based distribution center.

“When we looked at what [Gigamoto] had really done, we knew that it was very, very special,” Lindsay said. “In this industry, what happens a lot is people try to be all things to all people. Gigamoto didn’t do that. They focused on a niche component, and they became the best at it. That really was one strong complement to us at UBC because we have focused on a niche and focused on being the best at it in terms of post-approval work and peri-approval work.”

UBC’s global drug safety and risk management services include the development and implementation of risk evaluation and mitigation (REMS) programs, including those with Elements to Assure Safe Use (ETASU), periodic safety update reporting (PSUR), European risk management plans, case processing and integrated pharmacovigilance services.

The Gigamoto deal is the second risk management/patient safety-related acquisition for UBC this year. The company acquired HPM, a drug safety and pharmacovigilance service provider in Geneva, Switzerland, in May.