Icon says it will be Shire's sole central labs provider and share clinical dev work with PRA

By Gareth Macdonald

- Last updated on GMT

Icon says it will be Shire's sole central labs provider and share clinical dev work with PRA
Ireland-based CRO Icon will do all of Shire’s central laboratory work under a new strategic alliance announced today.

In addition to central laboratory services, the contract research organisation (CRO) will be one of two providers of clinical development services.

 

An Icon spokeswoman told Outsourcing-pharma.com that: “Icon has the requisite resources to support the Shire partnership​,” and added that North Carolina, US-based CRO PRA International is Shire’s other clinical development services provider.

 

PRA did not respond to Outsourcing-pharma.com’s request for comment ahead of publication.

 

Shire’s decision to partner with two CROs for its clinical development work is the same strategy adopted by Icon’s other Big Pharma partners – B-MS​ and Pfizer​ – for which the Dublin based CRO shares clinical trial duties with US-headquartered Parexel.

 

Icon has not said how clinical development work will be divided between itself and PRA, but did disclose that it will provide Shire with feasibility assessment services, as well as help ethics and regulatory submissions, trial monitoring and project management.

 

No investment

 

Icon’s assertion that it will not need additional resources to service its relationship with Shire will be welcomed by observers concerned that this type of strategic partnering is taking too long to generate earnings.

 

In November several analysts​ said that earnings at Icon and fellow Pfizer partner Parexel had been negatively impacted by the investments – the CROs hired 500 and 300 additional staff, respectively– made to service strategic contracts.

Related topics Clinical Development Phase III-IV

Related news

Show more

Related products

show more

Using Define-XML to build more efficient studies

Using Define-XML to build more efficient studies

Content provided by Formedix | 14-Nov-2023 | White Paper

It is commonly thought that Define-XML is simply a dataset descriptor: a way to document what datasets look like, including the names and labels of datasets...

Overcoming rapid growth challenges with process liquid preparation

Overcoming rapid growth challenges with process liquid preparation

Content provided by Thermo Fisher Scientific - Process Liquid Preparation Services | 01-Nov-2023 | Case Study

A growing contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) was challenged with the need to quickly expand their process liquid and buffer preparation...

Why should you use clinical trial technology?

Why should you use clinical trial technology?

Content provided by Formedix | 01-Nov-2023 | White Paper

New, innovative clinical trial technology is helping to revolutionize the research landscape. COVID-19 demonstrated that clinical trials can be run much...

Related suppliers

Follow us

Products

View more

Webinars