History

A member of the Inverness Medical Innovations (NYSE: IMA) family of companies, Alere® was formed in 2008 when Inverness purchased and then merged three healthcare companies – Alere Medical, ParadigmHealth and Matria® Healthcare.

Prior to the merger, Alere Medical was the leader in specialized health management services incorporating in-home monitoring devices for medium- and high-risk patients. ParadigmHealth focused on the management of high-cost patients, including premature newborns and medically complex patients with end-of-life care issues, multiple co-morbidities and severe trauma. Matria was a leading provider of integrated comprehensive health improvement (disease management, health coaching and wellness services) as well as the management of high-risk pregnancies to health plans and employers.

Inverness

Founded by Ron Zwanziger in 1991, Inverness Medical Technologies (IMT) pioneered the use of the “glucose strip” to empower people with diabetes to take charge of their health. In 2001, IMT was sold to Johnson & Johnson, and Inverness Medical Innovations was founded with a mission of continuing to lead the industry in the development of innovative, consumer-focused diagnostic products.

Since 2001, through a process of acquisitions, internally developed products and organic growth, Inverness Medical Innovations has assembled the most comprehensive portfolio of industry leading consumer and professional rapid point-of-care diagnostic products in the world.

By 2006, Inverness had become the global leader in rapid diagnostic products that serve cardiovascular disease, drugs of abuse, infectious disease, oncology and women’s health with a focus on the physician office and home markets. Recognizing a significant need and opportunity to bring rapid diagnostics and health management together, Inverness in 2007 first acquired Alere and then ParadigmHealth, and finally Matria in 2008, to accelerate the convergence of diagnostics, health management and technology-enabled care at home.

Today, Inverness offers the most patient-centered company in the health services sector, offering not only the broadest continuum of healthcare services, but also value-added in-home diagnostic monitoring devices and complex case management.

The New Alere

The following provides a brief history of each of the original three companies and their areas of focus. 

Alere Medical

Founded in 1996, Alere Medical Inc. began with a mission to focus on improving care management for the millions of Americans diagnosed with heart failure. The first company to offer in-home monitoring solutions, Alere Medical developed the DayLink® Monitor in the 1990s, which came to be known as the “talking scale,” and the pulse oximeter to be able to measure oxygen levels quickly and accurately.

Alere Medical also pioneered the use of in-home monitoring for patients with heart failure. The biometric measurement device — currently provided by the new Alere to patients with higher-risk chronic conditions — allows participants to transmit health data over a phone line to the clinical staff.

By 2003, the company had transformed from a medical device company to a technology-enabled, pure-play disease management company, offering a program for heart failure. In 2004, Alere was ranked in the top 100 on the Inc. 500 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies in both 2004 and 2005.

By 2005, Alere Medical had expanded further to offer higher-risk disease management programs for the top five most common chronic conditions, including coronary artery disease and heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma and diabetes.

In addition, Alere had become a leader in the development of technology and services that remotely monitor patients and provide physicians with information to enhance patient management, providing a unique combination of at-home monitoring, nursing assessment and patient education.

ParadigmHealth

Founded in 1991, ParadigmHealth was the country’s first and only expert clinical management company to focus solely on complex care.  At the time of its purchase by Inverness, the company had managed more than 30,000 complex cases, including high-risk neonates, acquired brain injury, spinal cord injury, multiple trauma, severe burn injury and other complex, high-cost medical conditions.

In 2004, ParadigmHealth merged with Franklin Health/PersonalPath Systems, founded in the 1980s to help patients and families facing the most critical of medical events, including terminal illness and preparation for end-of-life. The combination capitalized on ParadigmHealth’s care management expertise and Franklin Health’s consumer-friendly technology capabilities to launch ParadigmHealth’s Integrated Care Management Services.

By 2007, ParadigmHealth, Inc., had become a leading provider of innovative, consumer-centric decision-support technologies and expert coaching to facilitate better health choices for acutely ill and clinically complex patients, including neonatal intensive care, oncology and terminally ill patients.

Matria Healthcare

Matria was originally founded in 1970 as Life Systems, Inc., a manufacturer of medical devices. Its first product was the infant home monitor to prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), which entered the market in 1976 when the first major order was filled. At that time, the company name had changed to Healthdyne, Inc.

After nearly two decades of expansion and diversification into other healthcare product markets, Healthdyne entered the healthcare services industry in the late 1980s to provide risk assessments and home monitoring for pregnant women at risk for preterm labor. In the mid-1990s, Healthdyne became Matria Healthcare, Inc.

Matria entered the disease management industry in 1998 with programs for the respiratory conditions of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), followed by a diabetes program in 1999. By 2002, Matria had added programs for cardiovascular diseases, cancer, depression and back pain, positioning Matria as the only disease management company to offer programs for all of the most costly chronic diseases, including cancer.

In 2004, Matria added programs for obesity, smoking cessation, substance abuse, pain management and a health risk assessment. With the acquisition of Miavita, LLC and WinningHabits, Inc., Matria began offering a lifestyle management program for healthy members not yet diagnosed with chronic diseases, but at risk for developing them due to unhealthy lifestyle behaviors. The integration of WinningHabits’ comprehensive online wellness solution with Miavita’s dynamic personalized Healthy Living Programs created the only wellness program of its kind in the industry.

In 2006, Matria acquired CorSolutions Medical, Inc., (founded in 1994), a leading provider of disease management and health and productivity services to employers, health plans and government-sponsored healthcare programs. The combination of Matria and CorSolutions created the industry’s most expansive and integrated offering of wellness, health and productivity, and disease management programs.

Convergence

Alere’s convergence with Inverness Medical Innovations further empowers the company to fulfill its mission to bring greater clarity to the healthcare of each individual, improving healthcare one person, one touch at a time.

Inverness’ unique portfolio of diagnostic capabilities combined with health management tools and services:

• Permits participants to take charge of their own health at home,
• Enables healthcare providers and payers to improve care,
• Prevents disease advancement, and
• Lowers healthcare costs.

Already established in 11 of 20 major worldwide geographies, Inverness’ global sales and distribution capabilities are rapidly expanding. With more than 5,000 employees – 600 in sales and marketing, 400 in research and development, and more than 2,000 clinicians – Inverness is well-positioned to help shape the future of patient-centered care in the home.

The acquisition of Alere Medical, ParadigmHealth and Matria, and the formation of the new Alere further deepen Inverness’ footprint within the health management marketplace – creating the second largest disease management company worldwide and better positioning the company for future growth and future service and program capabilities.