As WRAL TechWire first reported last week, QuintilesIMS has changed its name to Iqvia. The life science giant confirmed the name change Monday morning.

“Today is a defining moment for our organization as we introduce a new name that aligns with our vision to help stakeholders drive healthcare forward,” said IQVIA Chairman and CEO Ari Bousbib in the announcement.

“Our clients have been instrumental in our becoming IQVIA. IMS Health and Quintiles came together because our clients were asking for better, faster ways to bring innovations to patients and capture the improvements the industry has been pursuing for years. Since the merger, we’ve worked to integrate our capabilities in advanced analytics, leading technologies and therapeutic expertise into powerful, differentiated offerings. Our vision is to outpace the inevitable progress of change across the life sciences and accelerate our ability to empower healthcare decision makers to meet the future head on.”

WRAL TechWire reported lat week that the firm, which maintains dual headquarters in Durham and Connecticut, had filed trademark information for a new name.

The company declined comment at the time when asked about the pending change.

The name change is effective today.

Sources who asked to rename anonymous have told WRAL TechWire over the past several months that QuintilesIMS management was planning to rebrand and rename the company.

Quintiles and IMS merged to form one company in 2016, the deal totalling some $17 billion.

Quintiles was originally formed in Chapel Hill in 1982 and led by former UNC-CH Professor Dennis Gillings.

Gillings turned the CEO reins over to veteran life science executive Tom Pike, who joined Quintiles in 2012 and took the company public the next year, agreed to a lower level job when the firms merged. He left shortly after the merger was approved.

Bousbib, who had led IMS before the merger, was named the top executive as part of the merger.

QuintilesIMS maintains its other headquarters in Danbury, CT.

The company has some 50,000 employees wordwide, including several thousand in North Carolina.

Its stock symbol on the NYSE will become IQV on the NYSE.

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