TransCelerate Selects Cognizant to Develop a Clinical Trials Collaboration Platform

The Shared Investigator Platform, Built as an Industry Utility, Will Help Accelerate the Development of New Medicines

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Jul 24, 2014, 06:00 ET

TEANECK, N.J., July 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) today announced that it has been selected by TransCelerate BioPharma Inc., a non-profit organization with membership representation from 19 major pharmaceutical companies, to develop a first-of-its-kind, subscription-based platform that will transform the way clinical sites collaborate with pharmaceutical companies on clinical trials. TransCelerate BioPharma Inc. is dedicated to making the research and development process more efficient across the pharmaceutical industry.

The Shared Investigator Platform, which will be built as an 'industry utility', will enable the pharmaceutical industry to bring standardization and consistency to clinical trials. Investigator platforms are often deployed by each pharmaceutical company resulting in clinical sites using multiple environments, introducing complexity and risk. By bringing together clinical sites and sponsors spread across the world on a common platform, pharmaceutical companies can run clinical trials more efficiently and accelerate the development of new medicines.

The new platform will enhance organizational productivity by providing investigators and site staff with a central, single access point to clinical trial information, enhancing accuracy, and reducing study start-up time. It will also help pharmaceutical companies to improve quality, regulatory compliance, process visibility, and capacity, while reducing investigator efforts related to training, document exchange, and support. In the future, the platform may provide regulators with an efficient electronic audit process and better insight into clinical trials.

"This collaboration is an important part of TransCelerate's strategy to improve clinical trial processes in order to bring innovative new medicines to patients faster," said Jackie Kent, Senior Director, Clinical Development Information and Optimization, Eli Lilly & Co., and Shared Investigator Platform Leader, TransCelerate. "The Shared Investigator Platform will benefit sites by simplifying processes, and reducing time and effort spent on standard study activities. TransCelerate conducted a comprehensive selection process for this initiative and Cognizant provided the key attributes required for this unique partnership. We anticipate an overall improvement in the quality of studies and the data generated from the Shared Investigator Platform initiative."

"We are pleased to partner with TransCelerate to build this first-of-a-kind platform, which will help maximize the potential of technology-based collaboration and provide better medicines to patients, greater efficiency to clinical sites, and superior business outcomes to pharmaceutical sponsors," said Bhaskar Sambasivan, Vice President of Cognizant's Life Sciences practice. "Streamlining the clinical trials process will enable TransCelerate's member companies to not only speed up drug development, but also drive innovation in improving patient health. We are making a significant commitment and investment in this strategic relationship, and will leverage our industry expertise and technology capabilities to ensure that the proprietary platform, built as an industry utility, delivers optimal value. We will also seek inputs from end-users to continually enhance the platform."

About TransCelerate BioPharma Inc.
TransCelerate BioPharma Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health of people around the world by accelerating and simplifying the research and development (R&D) of innovative new therapies. The organizations' mission is to collaborate across the global biopharmaceutical R&D community to identify, prioritize, design and facilitate implementation of solutions designed to drive the efficient, effective and high quality delivery of new medicines. TransCelerate evolved from discussions at various forums for executive R&D leadership to debate current issues facing the industry, and examine solutions for addressing agreed-upon common challenges. The founding member companies are AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Company, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, the Roche Group, and Sanofi. Additional members that have joined since the inception of TransCelerate include Allergan, Inc., Astellas Pharma Inc., Biogen Idec, Cubist Pharmaceuticals, EMD Serono, Inc. (a subsidiary of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany), Forest Research Institute (a subsidiary of Forest Laboratories, Inc.), Medgenics, Inc., Shionogi & Co., Ltd. and UCB.

Membership in TransCelerate is open to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies with Research & Development operations. Executive offices are located in Philadelphia, PA. For more information, please visit http://www.transceleratebiopharmainc.com.

About Cognizant's Healthcare and Life Sciences Practice
Cognizant's Healthcare and Life Sciences practice is committed to helping change millions of lives for the better by partnering with clients to build solutions to healthcare challenges, continually improve the way they do business, set the pace in clinical development, strengthen their regulatory infrastructure, and increase competitiveness. Consistently ranked among the top 10 on the Healthcare Informatics Top 100, Cognizant serves 27 of the top 30 global pharmaceutical companies, 15 of the top 20 health plans in the U.S., 5 of the top 6 pharmacy benefit management companies in the U.S., 9 of the top 10 biotech companies, and 12 of the top 20 medical device companies. With a large team of dedicated professionals including doctors, pharmacologists, physicians, biomedical engineers, pharmacists, biostatisticians, medical writers, and GxP consultants, the practice provides domain-aligned consulting, IT, business process and analytics solutions globally.

About Cognizant
Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services, dedicated to helping the world's leading companies build stronger businesses. Headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey (U.S.), Cognizant combines a passion for client satisfaction, technology innovation, deep industry and business process expertise, and a global, collaborative workforce that embodies the future of work. With over 75 development and delivery centers worldwide and approximately 178,600 employees as of March 31, 2014, Cognizant is a member of the NASDAQ-100, the S&P 500, the Forbes Global 2000, and the Fortune 500 and is ranked among the top performing and fastest growing companies in the world. Visit us online at www.cognizant.com or follow us on Twitter: Cognizant.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes statements which may constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the accuracy of which are necessarily subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied include general economic conditions and the factors discussed in our most recent Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Cognizant undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

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