ICON, a global provider of outsourced development services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries, and Empire Genomics, a provider of genomic technologies that enable personalized medicine to be realized, have formed a strategic alliance.

ICON and Empire Genomics will partner to develop a service portfolio tailored to the development of personalized medicines. The partnership combines Empire Genomics’ expertise in pharmacogenomics, computational modeling of disease state, drug disposition and drug targets with ICON’s expertise in translational medicine, clinical trial design and biomarkers.  The combined service offering will enable the identification of responder target populations, permit the stratification of patients through the development and use of companion diagnostics and will streamline drug development programs through the generation and analysis of relevant data obtained in the pre-clinical and early stage clinical setting.

“Genomics plays an integral role in personalised medicine, and through our collaboration with Empire Genomics, we can now offer sponsors integrated personalised medicine services,” commented Dr. Cyril Clarke, vice president translational medicine, ICON development solutions. “We believe that this partnership will help sponsors to speed development by enhancing target population identification to ultimately produce safer, more effective medicines.”