OPEN Health and Nested Knowledge have announced a strategic research collaboration aimed at leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to “enhance the speed, efficiency and depth” of evidence synthesis.

The partners hope that this will ultimately aid biopharmaceutical researchers in “making crucial healthcare decisions and bringing products to market more quickly”.

Meta-analyses and systematic literature reviews facilitate the methodical evaluation of all relevant research on a specific topic and are essential components of comprehensive outcomes assessments, often in preparation for health technology assessment and reimbursement submissions.

Accelerating the speed and increasing the transparency at which these are conducted will “hasten the translation of research into actionable insights and approved healthcare interventions”, the partners outlined.

The new collaboration will see Nested Knowledge’s AI-driven platform be applied within OPEN Health’s strategic market access and evidence synthesis teams to accelerate research analysis and the derivation of insights.

Kevin Kallmes, chief executive officer and founder of Nested Knowledge, said: “Uniting technology with expertise is core to the mission of Nested Knowledge, as well as to overcoming key barriers in conventional evidence synthesis processes.

“OPEN Health’s leading evidence synthesis capabilities and approach to AI augmentation in the context of expert oversight makes [it] a perfect partner for scaling up more rapid, interactive and technologically integrated solutions.”

Richard Jones, president of OPEN Health Evidence and Access, said the collaboration underscores the organisation’s commitment to “leveraging innovative solutions and AI technologies for superior client delivery”.

“We are excited to formalise our collaboration with Nested Knowledge and collectively bring market-leading evidence synthesis solutions to our clients,” he added.

The announcement came less than one month after OPEN Health said it would be bringing together experts in strategic patient innovation and engagement to deepen its “existing commitment to building patient-first solutions”.

The organisation said it would combine the “strength, expertise and proven track record” of the Px Group – a division of the CM Group, which was acquired by OPEN Health in 2022 and subsequently rebranded as part of OPEN in 2023 – with its own patient engagement team to create a “unified global patient communications, patient research and creative patient engagement partner”.

Kevin Kallmes

Richard Jones

Prime has announced its acquisition of Aventine Consulting in a bid to “significantly bolster” its US evidence and access presence.

Founded in 2008 by Holly Trautman and Jamie Dunning, Aventine is a US-based consulting firm specialising in market access and payer communications.

Although financial details of the agreement have not been disclosed, Prime said the merger will allow it to offer “a full spectrum of health economics, market access, value communications and evidence services”.

The firm added that the deal will provide it with a local US presence to “geographically support US-based global clients and meet the increasing needs of the US domestic market”.

Graeme Peterson, Prime’s chief executive officer, said: “Aventine will help support our US-based global clients as well as our US domestic clients where there is a growing need to demonstrate value for payers within the healthcare system.”

In a separate statement, Aventine said the acquisition will “deliver enhanced value to [its] clients via access to Prime’s broader expertise in scientific and medical communications, brand and marketing, patient insights and advocacy and strategic consultancy”.

Trautman, who has been serving as Aventine’s chief operating officer, said: “We are eager to begin the next phase of our journey with Prime, and to draw upon the broader scientific, technical, strategic and creative expertise that Prime brings to further enhance life-changing solutions for our clients.”

The move represents Prime’s “third major strategic acquisition” in the past two years, it said, following its acquisitions of HCD Economics and creative digital technology agency Earthware in 2022.

“We are excited about the prospect of collaboration between Aventine and the existing Prime Access and HCD teams, and the opportunity to overlay complementary technical solutions in health economics and real-world studies,” Peterson added.

Prime also recently unveiled a new vision, strategy and refreshed brand to “support the dynamic needs of its clients and the sector”.

At the time of the November announcement, Peterson spoke about how “the world of healthcare is changing… We now need to deliver a fresh approach to problem solving, original thinking and better ways to improve lives sooner”.

Jamie Dunning

Holly Trautman

Graeme Peterson