Advarra Announces Intent to Acquire Forte

Advarra, the provider of institutional review board (IRB), institutional biosafety committee (IBC), and research quality and compliance consulting services, is pleased to announce the intent to acquire Forte, the provider of standards-based clinical research technology solutions for major academic medical centers, cancer centers, and health systems. Forte offers a fully integrated suite of solutions for clinical trial management, clinical data management, and research administration, including OnCore, Forte's flagship enterprise CTMS.

“Forte is known across the research community as the gold standard for eClinical technology solutions,” said Pat Donnelly, CEO of Advarra. “Their organizational culture and values are the perfect complement to Advarra’s ‘altogether better’ approach to advancing clinical research. We look forward to collaborating with Forte’s customers and team members to continue to enhance their outstanding products and services with additional investment to serve our mutual clients.”

The combined organization supports nearly 100,000 active protocol records with academic medical centers and health systems. Forte boasts 98 percent cumulative customer retention over 19 years of operation, serving 72 percent of NCI-designated cancer centers and 70 percent of the top 50 NIH-funded research institutions in 2019. The transaction supports continued growth for both businesses, serving well over 3,200 research institutions, health systems, and academic medical centers.

“We’re extremely proud of the highly collaborative customer community we have built over the last 19 years, which has resulted in a site-centric, integrated suite of industry-leading standards-based products and services,” said Shree Kalluri, CEO and Founder of Forte. “Joining Advarra is a great win for the research community and provides an outstanding platform for an interconnected clinical research ecosystem. Together we can transform clinical research and impact patients’ lives through the combination of eClinical technology solutions and research compliance and human subject protection services.”

“After our acquisition of Advarra in July, the Forte transaction represents a significant next step in developing, acquiring, and growing best-in-market solutions for products and services that streamline research, support faster study start-up, and enhance human research protections,” said David Golde, Managing Director of Genstar Capital. “We are excited about the value the combined organization will bring to Advarra and Forte customers.”

Forte is a portfolio company of Primus Capital. Ropes & Gray served as legal counsel to Advarra. Baird served as exclusive financial advisor and Goodwin Proctor LLP served as legal counsel to Forte. The transaction is expected to close later in September.