UPMC's ID Connect has absorbed Merck & Co's Ilúm Health Solutions to boost its client base and services offering.
Infectious Disease (ID) Connect, a US-based telemedicine spinout of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), has merged with infectious disease management service provider Ilúm Health Solutions, a division of pharmaceutical firm Merck & Co.
UPMC and Merck will both inject $5m into the merged business, investing through tech transfer office UPMC Enterprises and corporate venturing fund Merck Global Health Innovation Fund respectively. UPMC will retain a majority stake in the new company.
ID Connect offers telemedicine services that enable hospitals to access specialist infectious disease resources on behalf of their patients.
The merger deal adds Ilúm’s precision antibiotics technology, which predicts the efficacy of medications by applying machine learning to each patient’s medical profile and risk factors.
Ilúm has also implemented a public health monitoring technology with New York State’s Department of Health to track the proliferation of drug-resistant bacteria and infectious diseases such as Covid-19.
UPMC expects the merger to help address US-wide shortages of infectious disease specialists as well as increased risks of antibiotics misuse and hospital-acquired infections.
Most Ilúm employees will be taken on by ID Connect as will the entirety of Ilúm’s hospital client base, giving the new company a presence in nine US states.
ID Connect formally spun out of UPMC in May 2019 but does not appear to have disclosed equity funding prior to the latest announcement.
