[2][3][4] IMS Health was founded in 1954 by Bill Frohlich and David Dubow with Arthur Sackler having a hidden ownership stake.

[5] In 2010, IMS Health was taken private by TPG Capital, CPP Investment Board and Leonard Green & Partners.

[9] IMS Health's products and services were used by companies to develop commercialization plans[10] and portfolio strategies,[11] to select patient and physician populations for specific therapies, and to measure the effectiveness of pharmaceutical marketing and sales resources.

Throughout its history, IMS Health's business of collecting anonymized pharmaceutical sales data came under scrutiny from both the media and the legal system.

[28][29][30] Sorrell v. IMS Health Inc. was a case about physician-data privacy, which went to the U.S. Supreme Court., the High Court ruled in favor of the company.