Computer Sciences Tightens Health Care Connection

"The health care sector is underpenetrated right now in terms of how much value the service providers can deliver," says Paul Roehrig, an IT industry analyst with Forrester Research. "There are a lot of opportunities to use technology and information systems to take out costs and improve processes."

Contracts with health care providers and drug companies are generally resistant to economic downturns, because they often provide critical functions such as monitoring drug safety and maintaining electronic access to patient information.

The health-care-oriented deal-making started in July when Patni Computer Systems (PTI Quote) spent over $27 million, mostly in cash, to acquire privately held Taratec, a small IT shop that helps drug companies track data from clinical trials.

In September, Accenture (ACN Quote) set up a 140-person shop in India to crunch data clinical from drug trials run by Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY Quote). Accenture is hoping that the expertise it develops from working with Bristol-Myers will help it create a set of services that it can offer to other drugmakers.

Shortly after that deal, Indian IT services firm Cognizant (CTSH Quote) agreed to pay $135 million in cash for marketRx, which provides market-research software and other services for pharmaceutical, biotech and medical-device companies.