ICON plc, (NASDAQ:ICLR) (ISIN:IE0005711209), a global provider of outsourced development services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries, today announced that it has been chosen by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) as a preferred provider for full-service clinical pharmacology and exploratory clinical studies. This latest agreement with Bristol-Myers-Squibb follows the company's selection of ICON to provide global support for Bristol-Myers-Squibb's clinical development pipeline, which was announced in June 2010.
Under the preferred provider agreement for early phase development, ICON will provide a broad range of clinical pharmacology and exploratory clinical trial services including study conduct in ICON's Clinical Pharmacology Units, located in San Antonio, Texas; Omaha, Nebraska; and Manchester, UK. ICON will also provide all supporting scientific services such as protocol design and development, project management, clinical monitoring, medical monitoring / pharmacovigilence, data management, biostatistics, pharmacokinetics and medical writing.
"We are pleased that Bristol-Myers-Squibb has again chosen ICON to bring greater operational efficiencies and high quality science to their drug development programs," commented Dr. Mario Rocci, President, ICON Development Solutions. "Both companies already have a very successful global partnership for phase II-IV clinical development and central laboratory services and we look forward to demonstrating the same value and efficiencies to Bristol-Myers-Squibb's early phase clinical programs. Our global network of clinical research units, scientists and project teams, underpinned by world class technology, will drive significant cost savings and productivity."