Cognizant and Fortrea, a leading global provider of clinical development and patient access solutions to the life sciences industry, today announced that Cognizant has been selected as Fortrea's strategic technology transformation provider.
By partnering with Cognizant, Fortrea aims to continue advancing its mission and delivering solutions to its pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device customers – and to the patients those customers serve – within the confines of a sound and secure digital infrastructure.
Over the four-year agreement, Cognizant is expected to transform Fortrea's global technology environment. Cognizant's approach to the project is expected to bring the speed and agility necessary for the deployment of the next generation hybrid cloud and platforms required for a new era of digital innovation for Fortrea. The state-of-the-art technologies and services are designed to empower Fortrea to transform into a "born digital" organization, enabling a seamless digital experience with agility and efficiency across many different touchpoints.
In June 2023, Fortrea successfully completed its spin-off from its former parent company in a move designed to enhance its agility; capitalize on growth opportunities in phase I-IV clinical trials and patient access; and extend its leading positions in oncology, clinical pharmacology and partnership models. In 2024, Cognizant will play a fundamental role in the exit from Fortrea's Transition Service Agreements with its former parent company, facilitating a smooth switch and the establishment of the global Fortrea infrastructure, application management, and end-user services.
Cognizant's strategic services are expected to elevate Fortrea's data and analytical capabilities with the goal of setting new standards in the CRO industry and driving modernization required to support Fortrea's global operations. Fortrea also expects to benefit from Cognizant's robust life sciences and healthcare technology experience to help address the evolving needs of its customers, including some of the industry's leading enterprises.
"Today's announcement reflects Fortrea's renewed organizational agility following our spin-off," said Alejandro Martinez Galindo, Chief Information Officer of Fortrea. "We are selectively investing in clinical applications and platforms that give us and our customers an advantage in the race to bring life-changing treatments to patients faster. As we build the infrastructure that's essential to supporting these platforms and quickly delivering the insights our customers rely on, we have the opportunity to be 'born digital.' Our new modern ecosystem will be designed to speed decision making with innovation in clinical development. Cognizant's deep expertise will help make our vision a reality."
"Cognizant is proud to partner with Fortrea as they leverage technology to build a world-class culture of excellence that benefits customers, patients, employees and shareholders," said Cognizant EVP, Software and Platform Engineering, Prasad Sankaran. "With our deep domain expertise in clinical trial platforms, medical administration automation and secure collaboration, we can help Fortrea fortify its position as an independent, best-in-class digital, global Contract Research Organization."
"We're looking forward to bringing Cognizant expertise from across our service portfolio to support Fortrea's goal of providing a seamless digital experience for their customers. And we expect our work together will help Fortrea achieve a step-change from the legacy systems common across the industry, to a fully digital ecosystem leveraging the latest technology, which should result in better customer experiences and greater efficiency," said Cognizant EVP & President of the Americas, Surya Gummadi.
About Cognizant
Cognizant engineers modern businesses. We help our clients modernize technology, reimagine processes and transform experiences so they can stay ahead in our fast-changing world. Together, we're improving everyday life.
About Fortrea
Fortrea is a leading global provider of clinical development and patient access solutions to the life sciences industry. We partner with emerging and large biopharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostic companies to drive healthcare innovation that accelerates life changing therapies to patients in need. Fortrea provides phase I-IV clinical trial management, clinical pharmacology, differentiated technology-enabled trial solutions and post-approval services. Fortrea's solutions leverage three decades of experience spanning more than 20 therapeutic areas, a passion for scientific rigor, exceptional insights and a strong investigator site network. Our talented and diverse team of about 19,000 people working in more than 90 countries is scaled to deliver focused and agile solutions to customers globally.