Certara, the global leader in model-informed drug development, regulatory science, market access and real-world evidence solutions, has acquired Pirana, a widely used product for connecting and organising pharmacometric modelling results as well as providing interfaces to a range of software tools used in pharmacometrics modelling.
Developed by Dr Ron Keizer, in 2007, Pirana is now available in both a desktop and cloud-based version.
“We are thrilled that Pirana, which has been used by our scientists for years, will now be part of the Certara technology portfolio,” said Dr Thomas Kerbusch, President of Certara Strategic Consulting.
“Our acquisition of Pirana affirms our commitment to creating a holistic, agnostic, efficient and impactful modeling and simulation ecosystem that leverages tools that exist today and those that will emerge in the future. We look forward to continued collaboration with Dr Keizer to advance Pirana and nurture a connected pharmacometric environment.”
Pirana is a flexible, extendible pharmacometrics workbench that provides modelers with structure, tools and a graphical user interface to facilitate the iterative processes used to create pharmacometric models and perform simulations.
Those research tools include model templates and wizards, a library of goodness-of-fit plots (R), model translation tools, built-in support for version control and audit trails, and interfaces to other commonly-used pharmacometrics software products. Traceability and reproducibility are pivotal to validating modeling results, and are hallmark Pirana benefits.
Dr Keizer said: “I am confident that Pirana has found the right home with Certara. Not only does Certara have a formidable arsenal of products for quantitative scientists, but it is the undisputed leader in educating the larger community about the myriad benefits that modeling and simulation can provide for today’s drug developers. The Pirana of today and the Pirana of tomorrow fit within that larger remit.”
Certara’s flagship software products include Phoenix desktop software for pharmacokinetic (PK), pharmacodynamic (PD) and toxicokinetic modelling and simulation; Phoenix Knowledgebase Server (PKS), its 21 CFR Part 11 compliant PK/PD model repository; Phoenix in vitro-in vivo correlation (IVIVC) Toolkit; and the Simcyp physiologically-based PK Simulator, the industry’s most sophisticated solution for assisting in dose selection and informing product labeling.
Phoenix is used by 6000 researchers at 1500 biopharmaceutical companies and academic institutions in 60 countries. Phoenix is also employed by many global regulatory agencies for submittal review, including 11 divisions of the US Food and Drug Administration.
