London, ON, CANADA, Release: January 27, 2022 The International Bowel Ultrasound (IBUS) Group e.V. and Alimentiv Inc. announced today a partnership to offer intestinal ultrasound (IUS) central reading services in clinical trials of adults and children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Owing to its cost-effectiveness, tolerability and repeatability, IUS has played an increasing role as a non-invasive monitoring tool in clinical and research settings for IBD. This tool is accurate for the assessment of IBD disease activity and complications and may detect early treatment responses to therapy that cannot be identified by routine colonoscopy. While the use of IUS has gained traction in the clinical setting, its implementation within clinical trials as a non-invasive monitoring tool is still in its infancy. Increasing scientific evidence to support the use of IUS as a responsive monitoring tool is important to increase uptake within clinical trials.

“This partnership will deliver synergistic value to IBD research by combining expertise in clinical trial design and intestinal ultrasound,” said Prof. Dr. Christian Maaser, IBUS Chair. “Alimentiv has an established reputation in clinical research that is complementary to our group’s mission of advancing IUS research, education, and clinical applicability in IBD.”

“This is a positive development for patients with IBD as it offers the potential to implement and validate a non-invasive monitoring tool within clinical trials to assess response to treatment. This opportunity will combine the scientific and operational strengths of both organizations that will help to advance knowledge and experience in the field of intestinal ultrasound for patients with IBD,” said Dr. Vipul Jairath, Chief Medical Officer, Alimentiv. “As an organization which has developed several outcome measures for use in clinical trials combined with operational expertise of implementing imaging within clinical trials, we are excited for the opportunity to work with experts at IBUS as partners in research and development efforts going forward.”

Jeff Smith, CEO of Alimentiv said “The experts at IBUS are pioneers in facilitating and promoting the education of health care professionals on the use of intestinal ultrasound in IBD. We are delighted to be able to enter an exclusive arrangement to offer their IUS central reading services to sponsors.”

The implementation of IBUS ultrasound central reading services in Alimentiv sponsor-funded IBD clinical trials is forthcoming, with this offering expected to become available in Q4 of 2022.

About The IBUS Group

The International Bowel Ultrasound (IBUS) Group is a non-profit organization of international experts in bowel ultrasonography and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that is helping to make the use of intestinal ultrasound (IUS) more widespread. This group has pioneered global IUS education of interested gastroenterologists and other specialists who are caring for patients with IBD. The IBUS Group also provides a platform for research collaborations within the field of IBD. IBUS aims to advance research, education, and clinical applicability of IUS to ultimately improve personalized patient care and help contribute to management decisions and patient outcomes. For more information, visit www.ibus-group.org or contact office@bowel-ultrasound.org.

About Alimentiv Inc.

Alimentiv is a global contract research organization (CRO) providing clinical trials, central image management, precision medicine and real world evidence services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Headquartered in London, Ontario, Alimentiv employs more than 450 people across its operations in Canada, the United States, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. The unique model of the organization combines the efforts of internationally recognized academic researchers and operational experts to offer integrated solutions to customers. Founded in 1986 at the Robarts Research Institute, the clinical trials division was initially led by Dr. Henry Barnett. In 1997, Dr. Brian Feagan, Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology & Biostatistics at Western University assumed leadership and built upon the foundation of academic excellence by focusing the organization on Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) research. Over the past 20 years, Alimentiv has become a recognized expert in clinical trial design, central image management solutions, outcome measure development, and precision medicine for drug development in IBD. Today, Alimentiv provides services in more than 50 countries worldwide, collaborates with leading universities and academic institutions across the globe, and partners with many of the leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology organizations to bring new and improved treatment options to patients.

Alimentiv is committed to medical research and development, with a focus on identifying barriers to drug development and pursuing solutions that advance IBD research. The research findings are operationalized into efficient clinical trial methodology for clients that is in-line with emerging regulatory standards. In collaboration with leading experts, Alimentiv has pioneered the development, validation, and standardization of the outcome measures and technology that are shaping the evolving clinical trial landscape for multiple indications and providing meaningful long-term consequences for patients, their treatment, and for society. For more information visit: alimentiv.com