ICON wins Best CRO at the Vaccine Industry Excellence Awards

Dublin, Ireland, 07 October 2020 – ICON plc, (NASDAQ: ICLR) a global provider of outsourced drug and device development and commercialisation services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device industries and government and public health organisations, today announced it has been awarded Best Clinical Research Organisation (CRO) at the Vaccine Industry Excellence (ViE) Awards. ICON was presented with the award at the World Vaccine Congress which took place virtually last week. 

The ViE awards were created to honour and recognise the efforts, accomplishments, and positive contributions of companies and individuals in the vaccine industry. ICON was voted Best CRO by industry leaders asked to name their preferred CRO, and confirmed by a final judgement from a Scientific Advisory Board. 

This marks the third time ICON has won the award. The company was awarded ViE Best CRO in 2017 and 2014, and has been named as a finalist every year since 2011, demonstrating a long history of excellence in vaccine research.

“We are extremely proud to be recognised as the world’s best CRO for vaccine development,” commented Dr Steve Cutler, ICON’s Chief Executive Officer. “The importance of vaccine research is more apparent now than ever before, with all eyes on the industry as the world waits in hope. This award is recognition of the continued hard work and dedication of the ICON vaccines team.”

Since February, ICON has mobilised its vaccine resources to address the COVID-19 global threat, including its ability to conduct home-based trials to minimise infection. The company is currently providing clinical monitoring and safety oversight on more than 100 COVID-19 trials for both the private and government sectors. These include a prophylactic vaccine study in healthy participants, and a study investigating antiviral treatment for patients with confirmed Coronavirus infection. ICON has conducted more than 246 vaccine studies globally, including over 40 studies in respiratory viruses, within the past five years alone.

ICON offers a fully integrated vaccine clinical development solution, from preclinical and laboratory services to comparative effectiveness using interventional, observational, and pragmatic methods. ICON’s services span the entire lifecycle of product development and can be adapted to suit small local trials or large global programmes. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, ICON’s vaccines team worked on trials involving the Ebola Virus, as well as earlier SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) outbreaks, on behalf of governments and NGOs, global biotech and pharmaceutical industry partners.

More information is available at www.iconplc.com/covid-19 and www.iconplc.com/vaccines.

A full list of ICON’s industry awards can be viewed at www.iconplc.com/awards.

ICON plc is a global provider of outsourced drug and device development and commercialisation services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and government and public health organisations. The company specialises in the strategic development, management and analysis of programs that support clinical development - from compound selection to Phase I-IV clinical studies. With headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, ICON currently operates from 94 locations in 40 countries and has approximately 15,150 employees as of June 30, 2020.

Further information is available at www.iconplc.com.

Gareth Arnold
Weber Shandwick
Telephone:  (+44) 07944 688281
GArnold@webershandwick.com

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management's current expectations and information currently available, including current economic and industry conditions.  These statements are not guarantees of future performance or actual results, and actual results, developments and business decisions may differ from those stated in this press release.  The forward-looking statements are subject to future events, risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the statements, including, but not limited to, the ability to enter into new contracts, maintain client relationships, manage the opening of new offices and offering of new services, the integration of new business mergers and acquisitions, the impact of COVID-19 on our business, as well as other economic and global market conditions and other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in SEC reports filed by ICON, all of which are difficult to predict and some of which are beyond our control. For these reasons, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements when making investment decisions. The word "expected" and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are only as of the date they are made and we do not undertake any obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statement, either as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. More information about the risks and uncertainties relating to these forward-looking statements may be found in SEC reports filed by ICON, including its Form 20-F, F-1, S-8 and F-3, which are available on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov.