Icon buys Oxford Outcomes to boost Ph IV biz

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Dublin, Ireland-based contract research organisation (CRO) Icon has bought Oxford Outcomes, expanding its late Phase research business.

The deal adds Oxford’s range of patient reported outcomes (PRO), health economics and epidemiology capabilities, 78 person strong workforce and offices in UK, the US and Canada to Icon’s offering.

Icon CEO Peter Gray said: “The biopharmaceutical industry and regulators are more than ever before using post-marketing studies to demonstrate efficacy and safety, as well as demonstrating the economic value of products.”

This was echoed by Elizabeth Thiele, president of Icon’s late phase outcomes Research unit, who cited Oxford’s “blue chip client base” as an important factor in the deal.

The move fits with the findings of a study Icon commissioned last year to examine the impact increased regulatory demand for post-market analysis has had on the drug sector.

The IMS Health study, which garnered opinion from 140 industry specialists, revealed that 77 per cent of respondents thought safety rules introduced by US FDA and EMA have increased the resources required for drug development.