TEANECK, N.J., Oct. 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) today announced it has acquired Cadient Group, a full-service digital marketing agency that serves a broad spectrum of life sciences companies in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, consumer health, and medical device industries.

This acquisition further strengthens and expands Cognizant's digital marketing capabilities, enabling brand marketing leaders to transform the way they position their offerings in the digital landscape as they design, develop and introduce multi-channel marketing initiatives, launch brands, build communities, drive insights and analytics, and create a compelling customer experience. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Life sciences companies around the world have significantly increased their emphasis on web, mobile, and social engagement with all of their stakeholders, while increasingly leveraging enterprise-level analytics to drive a customer-centric approach to marketing and sales. Pennsylvania-based Cadient Group has more than a decade of experience in providing digital strategy, marketing, and technology and analytics solutions to industry leaders and emerging companies in the life sciences industry.

As part of this acquisition, more than 100 digital specialists—with expertise across brand strategy and planning, content development, user-centered design, multi-channel analytics, and digital, social and mobile marketing—will join Cognizant. This acquisition also brings to Cognizant digital assets and intellectual property including Reveal, an insights and analytics platform; Immerse, an experiential marketing platform; and OneVoice, an advocacy campaign management platform.

"The life sciences industry is undergoing structural disruption as marketing services enable new digital ways for companies to engage with patients and providers and create compelling user experiences," said Shankar Narayanan, Vice President and Global Markets Leader of the Life Sciences practice at Cognizant. "In an increasingly competitive industry with many digitally active stakeholders, the acquisition of Cadient Group will complement Cognizant's digital and interactive solutions capability. It will help brand marketing leaders to innovatively transform their brands, manage customer experience across multiple channels, maintain quality standards and comply with regulations, and achieve greater return on marketing investments. We welcome Cadient's digital specialists to the Cognizant family and are confident that our combined capabilities and digital assets will help both life sciences and broader healthcare companies gain a competitive advantage by managing the information that surrounds organizations, processes, products and people—what we call Code Halos."

"Becoming a part of Cognizant uniquely positions us to deliver integrated solutions to life sciences marketing and sales teams around the world," said Stephen Wray, President and CEO, Cadient Group. "Clients will now have enhanced access to the best creativity and craftsmanship of a design firm combined with the best-in-class management and execution capabilities of a large consulting and technology firm to produce superior customer engagements at the brand and enterprise level. Together, we are ideally positioned to deliver on this promise."

About Cadient Group

Cadient Group is a leading digital marketing agency that serves a diverse range of industry markets and stakeholders, including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, hospital and healthcare systems, institutions and associations. The agency produces business changing solutions for innovative healthcare companies, driving success for some of the world's most novel therapies and category defining brands. For more information, visit www.cadient.com. You can also follow Cadient Group on Twitter and Facebook.

About Cognizant's Healthcare and Life Sciences Practice

Cognizant's Healthcare and Life Sciences practice is committed to helping change millions of lives for the better by partnering with clients to build solutions to healthcare challenges, continually improve the way they do business, set the pace in clinical development, strengthen their regulatory infrastructure, and increase competitiveness. With approximately $2.5 billion in annualized revenue, Cognizant's healthcare practice is consistently ranked among the top 10 on the Healthcare Informatics Top 100, Cognizant serves 28 of the top 30 global pharmaceutical companies, 16 of the top 20 health plans in the U.S., 4 of the top 5 pharmacy benefit management companies in the U.S., 9 of the top 10 biotech companies, and 12 of the top 15 medical device companies. With a large team of dedicated professionals including doctors, pharmacologists, physicians, biomedical engineers, pharmacists, biostatisticians, medical writers, and GxP consultants, the practice provides domain-aligned consulting, IT, business process and analytics solutions globally.

About Cognizant

Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services, dedicated to helping the world's leading companies build stronger businesses. Headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey (U.S.), Cognizant combines a passion for client satisfaction, technology innovation, deep industry and business process expertise, and a global, collaborative workforce that embodies the future of work. With over 75 development and delivery centers worldwide and approximately 187,400 employees as of June 30, 2014, Cognizant is a member of the NASDAQ-100, the S&P 500, the Forbes Global 2000, and the Fortune 500 and is ranked among the top performing and fastest growing companies in the world. Visit us online at www.cognizant.com or follow us on Twitter: Cognizant.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes statements which may constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the accuracy of which are necessarily subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied include general economic conditions and the factors discussed in our most recent Form 10-Q and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Cognizant undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

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SOURCE Cognizant