(Reuters) - French technology company Dassault Systemes SE is nearing a deal to acquire U.S.-based software firm for clinical trials Medidata Solutions Inc to boost its life sciences unit, CNBC reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Shares of Medidata were up 5.5% at $100 in after-hours trading.
Cloud-based Medidata's software is used to help clinics manage back office operations and data, besides providing analytics tools, the report said.
The deal could be announced as soon as Tuesday, a Bloomberg report said.
The Medidata deal will be Dassault's third acquisition this year. In February, Dassault acquired Trace Software International's electrical and automation design software, Elecworks, to help customers with electrical design challenges in the development of smart products.
In March, the company acquired startup Argosim to boost artificial intelligence technology for model-based systems engineering and architecture for embedded systems.
Dassault and Medidata did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
(Reporting by Sayanti Chakraborty in Bengaluru; Editing by James Emmanuel)
