IQVIA and Duke Clinical Research Institute Announce Strategic Collaboration to Advance Clinical Research in Obesity and Related Conditions

Key Terms

glp-1 therapy medical

GLP-1 therapy uses drugs that mimic the gut hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 to help control blood sugar and often reduce appetite and body weight; think of it as a thermostat for appetite and insulin that helps the body respond more appropriately after eating. It matters to investors because these treatments can address large markets for diabetes and obesity, drive drug sales, affect company valuations, and influence healthcare costs and prescribing patterns.

glp-1 receptor agonists medical

GLP-1 receptor agonists are medicines that mimic a natural gut hormone to lower blood sugar and reduce appetite, often used to treat diabetes and obesity. Investors care because these drugs can drive large prescription sales, face strict regulatory approval and patent timelines, and their safety, pricing, or label changes can meaningfully affect a drug maker’s revenue much like a bestselling product or a recalled item would impact any company’s financial outlook.

sglt2 inhibitors medical

SGLT2 inhibitors are a class of medicines that lower blood sugar by helping the kidneys remove excess glucose in the urine; think of them as a filter that lets extra sugar pass out of the body. They matter to investors because they are used to treat diabetes and related conditions, drive prescription sales, can gain new approvals for additional diseases, and influence healthcare costs, competition, and insurer reimbursement decisions.

electronic health records technical

Electronic health records are digital versions of a patient’s medical history, tests, treatments and prescriptions that healthcare providers create and store electronically instead of on paper. For investors, they matter because they drive recurring software and services revenue, enable new data-based products like remote care and analytics, and carry financial risk from privacy rules, data breaches and the ease of sharing records between systems—factors that affect a healthcare or technology company's value.

real-world data technical

Real-world data consists of information collected from everyday sources outside of controlled experiments or official reports, such as patient records, insurance claims, or wearable device readings. For investors, it provides a more complete picture of how products and services perform in actual use, helping them make better-informed decisions based on how things work in real life rather than just in theory or controlled settings.

cardiometabolic medical

Cardiometabolic describes health conditions that affect the heart and the body’s metabolism—most commonly heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and obesity—that often occur together and share common causes. Investors care because these linked conditions drive large, predictable demand for drugs, medical devices and long-term care, and changes in treatment options, guidelines or costs can materially affect healthcare company revenues and government spending much like a problem in an engine and its fuel system impacts the whole vehicle.

biostatistics technical

Biostatistics is the use of statistical methods to design medical studies, analyze biological and health data, and interpret the reliability of results from clinical trials and observational research. For investors, it is the tool that turns raw trial numbers into clear probabilities and confidence levels—much like a weather forecast turns measurements into a prediction—helping assess how credible study results are, estimate development risk, and value potential outcomes.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- IQVIA (NYSE:IQV), a leading global provider of clinical research services, commercial insights and healthcare intelligence to the life sciences and healthcare industries, and the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI), one of the world’s largest academic clinical research organizations with extensive experience designing and operationally executing large, complex multi-center clinical trials, are pleased to announce their new collaboration to enhance the conduct of clinical research in obesity and related cardiometabolic trials.

With the combined strength of two best-in-class organizations, this collaboration accelerates even the most sophisticated clinical programs and ensures coordinated, end-to-end support to sponsors, regulators, payers, patients and the broader medical community. By establishing the full operational framework up front, from governance to data flow to site-level execution, IQVIA and DCRI are able to quickly establish momentum on clinical trials with active support for a successful submission and beyond.

“By combining IQVIA’s operational excellence and global reach with DCRI’s academic rigor, we are setting a new standard for prospective collaboration between life science service companies and academic research organizations to accelerate clinical trial planning and delivery in obesity and related therapeutic areas,” said Dr. Jeffrey Spaeder, chief medical and scientific officer, IQVIA. “Uniting our combined clinical strength and complementary capabilities enables us to maximize trial efficiency, accelerate timelines and ultimately bring impactful therapies to patients faster.”

With more than 120 obesity trials conducted and more than 90,000 patients enrolled, IQVIA has supported clinical development, including operations, labs and patient support, for every FDA‑approved GLP‑1 therapy to date. This experience gives sponsors entering obesity and metabolic research a proven foundation. The collaboration between IQVIA and DCRI is poised to drive meaningful improvements in patient care and set new benchmarks for both operational and scientific excellence in clinical research.

“DCRI’s proven infrastructure for trial operations — including site activation, patient pre-screening, enrollment, retention and study management — along with our deep expertise in cardiometabolic and renal disease, enables us to design and execute trials that are both scientifically robust and operationally agile,” said Dr. Adrian Hernandez, executive director, DCRI. “Together with IQVIA, whose global scale and technology and AI capabilities enable efficient execution, we are expanding access to diverse patient populations and ensuring that our studies deliver meaningful results for sponsors, regulators, and most importantly, patients.”

Additional benefits of this strategic collaboration include:

• Expanded access to representative patient populations across 56 countries and more than 3,000 sites.
• Extended impact of thought leadership beyond immediate stakeholders bolstered by the involvement of DCRI clinical and data science and biostatistics faculty in presenting results.
• Leveraging of DCRI’s track record of pioneering research in GLP-1 receptor agonists and SGLT2 inhibitors, as well as IQVIA’s advanced analytics, electronic health records and real-world data in trial design and execution.

About IQVIA

IQVIA (NYSE:IQV) is a leading global provider of clinical research services, commercial insights and healthcare intelligence to the life sciences and healthcare industries. IQVIA’s portfolio of solutions are powered by IQVIA Connected Intelligence™ to deliver actionable insights and services built on high-quality health data, Healthcare-grade AI^®, advanced analytics, the latest technologies and extensive domain expertise. IQVIA is committed to using AI responsibly, with AI-powered capabilities built on best-in-class approaches to privacy, regulatory compliance and patient safety, and delivering AI to the high standards of trust, scalability and precision demanded by the industry. With approximately 93,000 employees in over 100 countries, including experts in healthcare, life sciences, data science, technology and operational excellence, IQVIA is dedicated to accelerating the development and commercialization of innovative medical treatments to help improve patient outcomes and population health worldwide.

IQVIA is a global leader in protecting individual patient privacy. The company uses a wide variety of privacy-enhancing technologies and safeguards to protect individual privacy while generating and analyzing information on a scale that helps healthcare stakeholders identify disease patterns and correlate with the precise treatment path and therapy needed for better outcomes. IQVIA’s insights and execution capabilities help biotech, medical device and pharmaceutical companies, medical researchers, government agencies, payers and other healthcare stakeholders tap into a deeper understanding of diseases, human behaviors and scientific advances in an effort to advance their path toward cures. To learn more, visit www.iqvia.com.

About the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI)

The DCRI, part of the Duke University School of Medicine, is the largest academic clinical research organization in the world. Our mission is to develop, share, and implement knowledge that improves global health through innovative clinical research. The institute conducts multinational clinical trials, manages major national patient registries, and performs landmark outcomes research. The DCRI is a pioneer in cardiovascular and pediatric clinical research and conducts groundbreaking clinical research across multiple other therapeutic areas, including infectious disease, neuroscience, respiratory medicine, and nephrology. To learn more, visit dcri.org.

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Kerri Joseph, IQVIA Investor Relations (kerri.joseph@iqvia.com)

+1.973.541.3558

Alissa Maupin, IQVIA Media Relations (alissa.maupin1@iqvia.com)

+1.919.923.6785

Natalie Sayewich, DCRI Corporate Communications (natalie.sayewich@duke.edu)

+1.919.668.8787

Source: IQVIA