Advarra Acquires Quorum Review IRB and Kinetiq Research and Technology Consulting

COLUMBIA, Md., and SEATTLE (Business Wire) – Advarra, provider of institutional review board (IRB), institutional biosafety committee (IBC), and research quality and compliance consulting services in North America, announced the acquisition of Quorum, one of the central IRBs in the U.S. and Canada. The transaction also includes Quorum’s research and technology consulting division, Kinetiq. The combined organization will be a global provider of integrated IRB, IBC, and research and compliance consulting services.

“Quorum is known across the research community for integrity, innovation, regulatory expertise, and client service excellence,” said Pat Donnelly, CEO of Advarra. “Their organizational culture and values are the perfect complement to Advarra, and we look forward to sharing best practices to build altogether better capabilities that serve clients and protect research participants.”

Advarra now offers the greatest institutional reach of any independent IRB, serving well over 3,000 research institutions, hospital systems, and academic medical centers. The collective regulatory expertise and client support resources will also further improve institutional service offerings, especially in light of recent regulatory mandates for single IRB review.

The combined expertise of Advarra Consulting and Kinetiq creates a global organization serving the pharmaceutical industry, biotech firms, device manufacturers, academic centers, health systems, and institutions. Expert consultants specialize in GxP and compliance consulting, clinical quality assurance, on-demand regulatory guidance, human research protection program (HRPP) solutions, technology compliance, biosafety support, research administration, and more.

“Joining Advarra provides our collective clients with expanded service options and an improved technology platform for an overall more comprehensive and responsive service experience,” said Cami Gearhart, CEO of Quorum. “We are excited to provide the research community with additional integrated solutions for research compliance and human subject protections.”

The combined organization is dedicated to a mutual philosophy to accelerate research through innovative technologies, strategic partnerships, and a commitment to one-touch service excellence. This approach reduces operational costs, streamlines study startup activities, prevents errors and administrative burdens, and saves time for clinical research sponsors, CROs, investigators, and institutions.

The Quorum office located in Seattle will support mutual Advarra customers based on the West Coast, and help bolster existing Advarra locations in Columbia, Md., Cincinnati, Research Triangle Park, N.C., Malvern, Pa., and Aurora, Ont., Canada.

About Advarra

Advarra, headquartered in Columbia, Md., provides institutional review board (IRB), institutional biosafety committee (IBC) and global research compliance services to clinical trial sponsors, CROs, hospital systems, academic medical centers and investigators. Its robust regulatory expertise and innovative technology ensure the highest standards of research review are met, while putting participants first and meeting complex human research protection oversight requirements. Advarra supports all phases of research across multiple therapeutic areas. For more information, visit advarra.com.

About Quorum

Quorum Review IRB helps clinical research clients accelerate research through faster study start-up, reduced fulfillment time, and the largest offering of complimentary study support services. The Quorum difference is One-Touch Collaboration™. Your research benefits from outstanding service experiences, increased efficiency, one study contact, one start-up timeline, and one stream of coordinated communications. Quorum offers harmonized IRB and IBC review, API integrations, and Kinetiq consulting services that move your research forward.