In the six years since its founding, Sermo has raised its panel membership to 130,000 medical professionals and says it works with hundreds of clients, including eight of the top ten pharma companies in the world.

WorldOne, meanwhile, has a network of more than one million physicians in 80 countries, and said that the addition of Sermo would further increase reach and expand research opportunities.

Peter Kirk (pictured), WorldOne CEO, said: “Sermo fits in perfectly with our strategy to extend our digital footprint across healthcare market research and enhance our growing portfolio of innovative engagement solutions.

“Combining Sermo’s technology and social media expertise with WorldOne’s global scale enables us to rapidly accelerate our growth.”