Icon opens China lab
Icon now operates three central laboratories in Asia Pacific, with the Tianjin site joining existing facilities in Bangalore, India and Singapore. Establishing a central laboratory in China will bring the contract research organisation (CRO) closer to its clients operating in the country.
The laboratory is located 70 miles outside of Beijing. Locating near to Beijing, an accessible city, will allow Icon to serve clients throughout China. Benefits of this include shorter shipping distances between clinical sites and testing facilities which can accelerate study completion.
Icon has partnered with FMD to support the project. FMD is supporting Icon with local knowledge and experience to help it provide “a faster and more cost efficient service”, said Dan Zheng, CEO of FMD.
In return, FMD will benefit from having access to the resources, systems and infrastructure possessed by Icon, said Zheng.
The facility will offer testing services covering chemistry, coagulation, haematology, immunology and other areas to meet study-specific requirements. Accreditation by the College of American Pathologists (CAP) was received last month.
Icon and TRI support NIAID
Technical Resources International (TRI) and its subcontractor, Icon, have been awarded the clinical research operations and management support (CROMS) contract by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
Under the terms of the contract, TRI and Icon will support the division of microbiology and infectious diseases (DMID) at the NIAID. Support covers areas including protocol development, clinical site monitoring, training, pharmacovigilance, and the CROMS information data system.
DMID supports extramural research including Phase I to IV trials into virtually all human infectious diseases, except HIV.
An initial award of $19m (€15m) has been made for the contract. Over the next seven years the contract could rise to a total value of $171m.
