Since our beginnings in 1960 when Davee, Koehnlein and Keating (DK&K), a Chicago-based accounting firm that tracked sales activity in the Canadian pharmaceutical marketplace was acquired by Intercontinental Medical Statistics Inc., IMS Health, Canada's growth has been a metamorphosis built upon technological expertise and information leadership.
IMS Health in Canada has become a leading national source of information and analysis for the health care community. With 350 employees working out of Montreal (Quebec) and Toronto (Ontario), we continue to expand to serve a growing base of clients in the health care community. Many events and milestones transpired to get us where we are today.
Here's a timeline of the more notable ones, from 1960 to the present:
| 1960 | Canadian Drug Store and Hospital Purchases Audit (CDH), a measure of pharmaceutical and diagnostic products, is launched. |
| 1969 | Canadian Disease and Therapeutic Index (CDTI), a continuing compilation of statistical information on the patterns and treatment of disease encountered in office-based physician practices in Canada, is launched. |
| 1977 | The first Canadian National Territorial Sales Analysis (TSA™) reports are delivered to clients. TSA tracks (across Canada) the sales of selected pharmaceutical manufacturers' products to retail pharmacies, dispensing physicians, nursing homes, hospitals and other purchasers. |
| 1981 | CompuScript™ is launched to measure the rate at which drugs move out of Canadian retail pharmacies and into the hands of consumers by monitoring prescriptions dispensed by the pharmacist. |
| 1984 | 1984 IMS opens offices in Mississauga (Ontario) to provide support to its growing Toronto client base. |
| 1987 | Canadian Promotional Audit (CPA) is launched, a service that estimates the detailing activity of pharmaceutical sales representatives and tabulates the cost of journal advertisements for ethical pharmaceuticals placed in publications. |
| 1989 | The Strategic Information Services division is created to provide in-depth reporting and analysis of emerging trends within health care. |
| 1991 | OTC Banner Monitor™ (OBM) is launched. OBM tracks manufacturer sales by drug category at the banner (drug store chain) level. |
| 1993 |
Projected TPA™ is launched. Projected TPA provides customized competitive prescription volume and market share estimates. Launch of IMSView™, a PC-based workstation that provides quick and easy access to IMS data as well as a client's internal corporate data in graphical and spreadsheet format. FINDr.™ is launched - a comprehensive national physician database. The Montreal offices relocate to newly-constructed headquarters at 6100 Transcanada in Pointe-Claire (Quebec). |
| 1994 |
Regional CompuScript is launched providing quick access to product form and strength information by region on a monthly basis. Client base grows to include over 70 pharmaceutical manufacturers and health care agencies. IMS Health product line grows to include over 25 products and services. Launch of Retail Payment Method (RPM™), first in a series of managed care products. |
| 1995 | IMSight™, the new on-line access system for IMS audit data, is launched. |
| 1996 |
IMS-parent company, Dun & Bradstreet, spins off into three separate companies - Cognizant, D&B and A.C. Nielsen. IMS Canada becomes part of Cognizant. Largest pharmacy chains in Canada form a managed-care partnership under the banner Rx Canada - bringing 15 major pharmacy retailers from across the country under one umbrella. Top drugs dispensed in Canada in 1996: Tylenol with Codeine 3; Premarin, Novamoxin, Synthroid, Novasen. |
| 1997 |
IMS establishes Health Information Advisory Board (HIAB) in Quebec, the first of its kind in Canada, to ensure the appropriate use of data from the IMS prescription database. Cognizant CEO Robert Weissman attends IMS Canada press conference at which he announced Cognizant's $40 million investment in health information technologies. Also in attendance, Quebec's Deputy Premier, Bernard Landry. Pharma market in Canada grows 11% over previous year to reach $6.6. billion - first double-digit growth since 1991. |
| 1998 |
Cognizant announces it will spin-off into two separately-traded companies - Nielsen Media and IMS Health. IMS Health has over 7,500 employees, operations in over 90 countries and revenues of $1 billion. IMS Health plays host to the first conference of its kind in Canada - the application of data warehouse technology in the pharmaceutical industry, featuring world-renowned data warehousing expert Bill Inmon. IMS Health announces merger with competitors Walsh and PMSI. IMS Health becomes a public company traded on the NYSE, under its new ticker symbol "Rx". IMS Health's board of directors approves a plan to spin-off its equity ownership of GartnerGroup, Inc. |
| 1999 |
IMS Health completes 2-for-1 stock split. Shareholders receive one share for every share of IMS Health common stock held. The Health Information Advisory Board (HIAB), institutes endowment fund of $30,000 to be disbursed through several grants to medical and pharmacy professionals and students who contribute to continuing medical education. IMS Health becomes the first organization in Canada to achieve registration from QMI, a division of CSA International, in the area of information privacy. Toronto office moves to 6755 Mississauga Road in Mississauga to accommodate new growth in business. |
| 2000 |
Established the IMS CANADA Prizes, a prestigious awards program that recognizes general practitioners, medical specialists and pharmacists for contributions to continuing education through the publication of an article on the appropriate and efficient use of prescribed medications. Continuing its commitment to health information privacy and its leadership in private sector privacy compliance, IMS appoints Anita Fineberg as Chief Privacy Officer. Launch of PharmaFocus™ on-line, the leading source of timely, comprehensive information on trends and developments in the Canadian pharmaceutical industry - includes exclusive on-line access to Health Edition™. Launch of XPONENT™, a comprehensive prescription information service that uses a patented projection methodology for greater accuracy to provide timely information about the pharmacotherapy utilization trends for all therapeutic classes. Board of Directors of IMS Health appoints David M. Thomas, previously a senior vice president at IBM, as chairman of the board and chief executive officer of IMS globally. |
| 2001 |
IMS Canada celebrates its 30th anniversary. Canadian pharmaceutical market grows to $11.2 billion. Top drug: Lipitor by Pfizer. |
| 2002 |
IMS Canada acquires two Canadian companies, Medcom Canada of Pickering, Ontario and the Rosenblatt-Klauber Group, Inc. (RKG) based in St-Laurent, Quebec. The expertise of Medcom and RKG in pharmaceutical market research, customized marketing seminars and product forecasting will enable IMS to further enhance its client-customized offerings. IMS Canada ranks 30th, up from 48th, in the 50 Best Companies to Work for in Canada study. |
| 2003 |
IMS Canada receives PRIX ISO Familles recognition for Balanced Home/Work Environment. For the third consecutive year, IMS Health Canada (IMS) is selected as one of the best companies to work for by MediaCorp and Macleans' Magazine. Montreal offices move to new offices conceived as an open-work environment located in Kirkland (Quebec). |
| 2004 |
IMS global celebrates 50 years of innovation. The global pharmaceutical market reached 550 billion dollars (US) and grew 7%. IMS launches Weekly CompuScript, A powerful new tool that allows the assessment of product uptake and utilization of historical new product launches, as well as the on-going performance of new competitive entrants. |
| 2005 |
IMS launches IMS Promo.360 – a powerful global portfolio of promotion management solutions for the pharmaceutical industry. IMS launches a new brand identity and tagline – Intelligence.Applied. IMS Health and SAS establish global Partnership to develop leading-edge market intelligence solutions for the pharmaceutical industry. IMS Canada named a top employer for recent college grads in the 2005 edition of The Career Directory. The Centre for Health Services and Policy Research at the University of British Columbia (UBC) publishes The Canadian Rx Atlas -- the first-ever national portrait of overall (private and public) drug utilization and expenditure. The Atlas uses data from IMS Health Canada to break down national and provincial variations in retail spending on prescription drugs from 1998 to 2004. |
| 2006 |
IMS Canada publishes the IMS 2005 Rx Report, an overview of retail prescription trends in Canada. IMS Health Canada named one of Montreal’s Top 10 Employers in the annual study of Canada’s Top 100 Employers published by Mediacorp Canada Inc. IMS launches IMS Precision Sales Force™ to give clients greater insights into optimizing their sales force to meet today’s market realities. IMS launches MIDAS Market Segmentation™, a new global standard for measuring and analyzing the generics market segment, and for understanding market opportunities and the performance of products beyond patent expiration. IMS Canada publishes white paper on Ontario's Bill 102 - A Review of Drug Plan Reform in Ontario and Implications for Other Provinces. |