ICON, Empire Genomics in Personalized Medicine Pact

ICON and Empire Genomics have entered a strategic alliance to develop a service portfolio for 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 translational medicine, clinical trial design and biomarkers expertise. The combined service offering aims to enable the identification of responder target populations, permit the stratification of patients through the development and use of companion diagnostics, and streamline drug development programs through the generation and analysis of data from the preclinical and early stage setting.

“We look to partner with companies, scientists and research institutions that complement our corporate strategies and expertise, and this collaboration gives us the opportunity to work with industry leading clinical units, translational medicine expertise and the broader ICON full-service offering,” said Anthony Johnson, chief executive officer, Empire Genomics.

“Genomics plays an integral role in personalized medicine, and through our collaboration with Empire Genomics, we can now offer sponsors integrated personalized 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.”