Icon’s site network acquisition deepens EMEA footprint

28-May-2019 - Last updated on 29-May-2019 at 18:37 GMT

(Image: Getty/Harvepino)

Related tags Icon Emea CRO Patient recruitment

Icon acquires a majority shareholding in MeDiNova Research, a UK-headquartered site network with operations across the EMEA region – and access to more than 5m potential study patients.

Under the agreement, Icon will have the right to acquire the remaining shares in the company by the third quarter of 2020.

According to the Ireland-based contract research organization (CRO), the acquisition augments its recruitment capabilities in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) and complements its existing US site network, PMG Research, which the CRO acquired in 2015.

Coventry, UK-headquartered MeDiNova Research was founded in 2000 and is made up of 33 active clinical research sites across the UK, Spain, South Africa, Poland, and Romania. These sites have a proprietary database of 400,000 patients living in close proximity, according to the company.

Additionally, through its health care partnerships, MeDiNova Research has access to more than 5m potential study patients by means of electronic medical records.

The addition of MeDiNova to Icon’s existing PMG network means that the company now has access to more than 8m patients across 87 sites.

MeDiNova will become part of Icon’s site and patient solutions business, under the leadership of E.B. McLindon, who told us it will be business as usual while the companies discuss integration plans to maximize customer benefit over the coming weeks.

McLindon added, “Icon’s acquisition of MeDiNova is a further advancement of our site and patient strategy, which is focused on increasing the recruitment and retention of patients in clinical trials so that we can reduce the cost of our customers’ development programs and accelerate the delivery of new medicines to patients.”