Envision Pharma Group Acquires OKRA.ai

This week, Envision Pharma Group announced that it had acquired OKRA.ai, a leader in artificial intelligence solutions for pharmaceutical operations. The transaction will add OKRA’s founder to Envision’s executive team and supply the company with a platform to enter the growing field of artificial intelligence (AI) for pharmaceutical companies.

"We are delighted to welcome OKRA.ai into the Envision Pharma Group family," shared Meg Heim, CEO of Envision Pharma Group. "The acquisition of OKRA.ai marks an exciting milestone in Envision's evolution as we continue to accelerate and deliver a compelling combination of technology-enabled capabilities and solutions to clients. The combination of Envision's leading technology, capabilities, and solutions with OKRA.ai's artificial intelligence solutions and expertise enables us to strengthen our offerings to clients across the product life cycle, but more importantly, support patients in their journey to health and wellness." 

The founder of OKRA, Loubna Bourfa, will join Envision as a member of its Executive Leadership Team. Bourfa was named to Deloitte’s Fast 50 Women in Leadership in 2022, European Young Leader 2022, and her company was ranked as the 9th fastest-growing tech firm in the United Kingdom. 

"Today is a redefining moment for OKRA.ai. I am honored to be joining forces with Envision and see enormous opportunities for the growth of our combined expertise and solutions for clients in the life sciences industry,” commented Bourfa in the press release. “As part of Envision Pharma Group, we can accelerate our work to bring AI to the heart of decision-making across the life sciences industry. Our success will not only bring commercial benefit to clients but lead to improved patient outcomes across the globe."

OKRA’s solutions focus on medical, commercial, and market access for pharmaceutical companies. Their FieldFocus product uses artificial intelligence to prioritize contacts for pharmaceutical sales representatives. The product also projects sales growth based on industry algorithms and suggests the best way to contact a potential client. OKRA’s other solutions offer integrated knowledge and guidance for dealing with medical scientific liaisons and setting prices with payers.

Recently, OKRA extended its collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), where the two companies worked together to support future customer engagement. The partnership, started in 2018, uses data sets to automate customer outreach and support decision-making with actionable AI-generated insights. In 2021, BMS expanded its use of AI-powered customer engagement, allowing them to automate more tasks across the company.