Dublin-headquartered clinical research firm Icon has been chosen by Bristol-Myers Squibb as a preferred provider for clinical pharmacology and exploratory clinical studies

As part of the deal, Icon will provide a range of clinical pharmacology and exploratory clinical trial services, in addition to supporting services such as protocol design and development, project management, monitoring, data management, biostatistics, pharmacokinetics and medical writing.

The two firms already have an agreement to provide global support for Bristol-Myers Squibb's
clinical development pipeline, a deal that was announced in June last year.

Icon president Dr Mario Rocci said the latets agreement would bring cost savings and efficiencies to Bristol-Myers Squibb

"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," he said.