Schlesinger's BDI Buys Healthcare Specialist ThinkPhar

Spain's BDI Research, a fieldwork agency owned by Schlesinger Associates, has acquired specialist healthcare qualitative research consultancy ThinkPhar. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Madrid-based ThinkPhar conducts medical marketing studies in the country using face-to-face, telephone interviews, and focus groups with GP's, specialists, KOL's and patients. The firm was founded in 2007 by Dr. Ana Gutierrez and Dr. Thomas Sheehan. Gutierrez, who has been working in medical marketing and MR since 1995, received her medical degree from the University of Alcala de Henares in Madrid, before working in internal medicine in Glasgow, Scotland, and then completing her postgraduate training in obstetrics and gynaecology. Sheehan, who is the former Head of Hemato-oncology at Clinica Vistahermosa, Alicante, Spain; Leukemia Research Fellow at Glasgow Royal Infirmary; and Cancer Research Fellow at the University of Southern California; has been involved in full time medical marketing research for the past six years.

BDI Research was acquired by Schlesinger Associates in 2017 and says the latest deal will help expand its healthcare expertise in Spain. The firm says ThinkPhars's expertise in the Spanish healthcare market and its talent in moderation and analysis complements its own recruitment, project management capabilities, and facilities.

Commenting on the acquisition, Gutierrez (pictured) said: 'Our combined suite of services allows our clients the choice of support for just a piece of the research puzzle or an end-to-end solution from feasibility consultation to reporting, and everything in between. Now, as part of the Schlesinger team, the expansion of our capabilities to online studies and a global reach is a clear added benefit for our clients, reinforcing BDI Research as a partner of choice in Spain'.

Web sites: www.schlesingerassociates.com , www.bdiresearch.com and www.thinkphar.com .