Exostar Obtains $5 Million Investment for their Growing Healthcare Business

HERNDON, Va.--Exostar, an innovative information technology company offering cloud-based solutions that enable secure, cost-effective business-to-business collaboration, today announced a $5.0 million investment to enable them to accelerate the growth and expansion of their healthcare and life science business.

Exostar’s cloud-based authentication identity hub for the healthcare industry, Secure Access Manager (SAM), connects customers with other organizations securely across large communities of users. The investment, made by the Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, will help Exostar maintain its rapid growth in these markets and expand into related verticals.

The healthcare industry continues to become more reliant on secure connections, not only to ensure organizations meet all compliance issues, but to support critical digital health applications such as ePrescribing, Health Information Exchange (HIE), and clinical collaboration. Exostar leverages over a decade of experience helping companies access, utilize and share business-critical information and applications through an easy-to-use, secure Software as a Service (SaaS) model.

“Exostar has successfully expanded from its Aerospace & Defense heritage into other vertical markets that have similar requirements for secure collaboration, complex supply chain needs or identity management to support their core business processes,” said Richard Addi, Exostar’s CEO. “Our solution is an ideal fit for the healthcare and life science community that needs to set up connections with partners and their applications quickly and securely. Exostar helps its customers connect with thousands of partners in their ecosystem without compromising network security or intellectual property.”

Originally established by some of the largest companies in the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry, the Exostar life sciences identity hub today includes more than 600 life science focused companies, government agencies and universities supporting the collaboration initiatives of thousands of individuals.

“Exostar’s secure cloud-based access and existing user base delivers a strong complement to the current and future needs of the data-driven healthcare industry,” said Joe Volpe of Merck’s Global Health Innovation Fund.

About Exostar

Exostar powers secure business-to-business information sharing, collaboration and business process integration throughout the value chain. Exostar supports the complex trading needs of many of the world's largest companies in aerospace and defense, life sciences, and other industries. Exostar’s cloud-based identity assurance products and business applications reduce risk, improve agility and strengthen trading partner relationships and profitability for over 100,000 companies in 150 countries worldwide. The Exostar community includes market leaders such as AstraZeneca, BAE Systems, Bell Helicopter, The Boeing Company, Computer Sciences Corporation, Lockheed Martin Corp., Merck, Newport News Shipbuilding, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon Co. and Rolls-Royce. For more information, please visit www.exostar.com.

About Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, LLC

Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, LLC (GHIF) invests in emerging companies that deliver breakthrough health care solutions, which advance Merck's mission to discover, develop and provide innovative products and services that save and improve lives. For more information, visit http://www.merck.com/ghi.

Around the web

The tirzepatide shortage that first began in 2022 has been resolved. Drug companies distributing compounded versions of the popular drug now have two to three more months to distribute their remaining supply.

The 24 members of the House Task Force on AI—12 reps from each party—have posted a 253-page report detailing their bipartisan vision for encouraging innovation while minimizing risks. 

Merck sent Hansoh Pharma, a Chinese biopharmaceutical company, an upfront payment of $112 million to license a new investigational GLP-1 receptor agonist. There could be many more payments to come if certain milestones are met.