W2O Buys Health Economics and Research Firm Discern

In the US, healthcare marcoms specialist W2O has acquired health economics and research consulting firm Discern Health for an undisclosed sum.

Baltimore and Washington, DC-based Discern provides direction and policy solutions to life sciences companies, government and nonprofit agencies, and health insurers; including consulting on the performance measures and payment models that shape the market for clients' products and services. The company also helps strengthen and quantify clinical and real-world evidence strategies supporting market access and commercialization initiatives.

W20 says the deal will expand its own value, access and pricing insights, policy, communications, marketing and consulting capabilities; while adding to its geographic presence with nearly 100 people dedicated to health policy. The Discern team will operate under W2O's single profit and loss operation, with access to all its new parent's proprietary data models and tools, as well as its 1,400 person multidisciplinary team. The latter includes data analysts, scientific strategists, branding experts, communications specialists and creatives.

This is the sixth acquisition W2O has completed since the company announced its partnership with New Mountain Capital just over a year ago, including the recent takeover of social media analytics platform Symplur. Tom Valuck (pictured), Partner at Discern Health, comments on the latest deal: 'We've been working with W2O over the past year and have gotten to know each other well. Being part of the W2O team means that we can supercharge our capabilities and incorporate world-class analytics and insights into our work, bringing even greater resources to our clients and, ultimately, improving patient outcomes'.

Web sites: www.w2ogroup.com and www.discernhealth.com .