Health Care: For Oracle, an Acquiring Taste
by John Paczkowski
Posted on March 23, 2009 at 1:30 PM PT
Oracle’s ongoing pursuit of vertical markets has served it well, particularly in these recessionary times–as its latest earnings prove. No surprise then to see the company bolstering its presence in the health care market with yet another acquisition–it’s 50th acquisition since 2005. This morning Oracle (ORCL) announced plans to acquire drug safety and compliance software specialist Relsys for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition is intended to extend the capabilities and reach of Oracle’s health sciences software suite.
And it’s almost certain to do just that, judging from Relsys’s pedigree. The company has been around for some 20 years and it counts 21 of the top 50 pharma companies among its customers. As Redmonk analyst James Governor notes, this is a savvy acquisition and one that positions Oracle well to take advantage of future Obama administration health care spending. “Oracle didn’t get to where it is today without knowing which way the wind is blowing, and it’s not exactly hard right now to know where the rest of the US Government’s money will go, after its blown most of its wad on financial services bailouts,” Governor said. “Healthcare and Utilities are both set for significant investment. Oracle was already in healthcare, but the Relsys acquisition takes it to the heart of concerns around drug provenance and compliance. Regulatory compliance remains one of the best ways to sell software–nobody wants to do it, but everyone has to. It’s like flossing your teeth–if you could license an application to do that for you, you would, right?”
