Bayer Completes Blackford Acquisition
Bayer has completed its acquisition of Blackford Analysis Ltd, an imaging artificial intelligence (AI) and solutions provider. As a wholly owned subsidiary of Bayer AG, Blackford will continue to operate on “an arm’s length basis” to preserve its entrepreneurial culture as an essential pillar for nurturing successful innovation. Blackford remains accountable to advance its technology, channel partnerships and ClinApp portfolio while benefiting from the experience, infrastructure and reach of Bayer as a global pharmaceutical company.
“Today’s official closing of the acquisition of Blackford marks an important step in implementing our strategy to drive innovation in radiology, including the development and adoption of AI within the clinical workflow,” said Gerd Krüger, president radiology, Bayer. “Bayer is a leader in key radiology areas with a comprehensive portfolio and a deep medical understanding across a multitude of diseases. We are excited that we are now able to join forces with the exceptional Blackford team to use our combined expertise for the benefit of patients and their treating physicians.”
“Blackford has built a strong reputation in the AI platform segment for radiology, with a wide portfolio of 3rd party products and a strong deployed base of hospitals, radiology groups and imaging centers,” said Ben Panter, chief executive officer of Blackford. “Combining our knowledge and experience with Bayer will enable us to provide solutions to deliver ongoing clinical value to radiologists and their referrers.”
The acquisition of Blackford bolsters Bayer’s position in digital medical imaging and follows a development and license agreement between both companies in 2020 that laid the foundation for Bayer’s recently launched medical imaging platform, Calantic Digital Solutions. Building on technology from Blackford and adding additional workflow and analytics components, Calantic Digital Solutions delivers access to applications, including those enabled by AI, for medical imaging. The collaboration with Bayer has its roots in 2019, when Blackford was among the selected start-ups of Bayer’s G4A Digital Health Partnerships Program that year.