Dublin, 19th January 2011: ICON plc, (NASDAQ: ICLR; ISIN:IE0005711209), a global provider of outsourced development services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries, today announced the appointment of Dr. Anthony Priestley as Medical Director at ICON’s Clinical Pharmacology Unit in Manchester, UK.
Dr. Priestley brings over 11 years of experience in pharmaceutical research and development, and joins ICON from LCG Bioscience where he served as Medical Director and Head of Clinical Research. Prior to his roles in LCG Bioscience, Dr. Priestly worked as a Clinical Pharmacologist for Serono and was responsible for the planning and conduct of all clinical pharmacology operations for projects in reproductive health, neurology, autoimmunity and inflammatory diseases.
“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Priestly to the clinical pharmacology team at our translational medicine unit in Manchester,” commented Dr. Thomas Frey, President, ICON Development Solutions. “His appointment is a further demonstration of our commitment to improving early drug development and enhancing our ability to offer sponsors the expertise, specialist procedures and patient populations necessary to more rapidly establish proof of concept.”
ICON opened its purpose-built translational medicine unit in Manchester in June 2010. The two-floor, 34-bed hospital-based unit brings ICON’s Phase I global bed capacity to over 280 beds, and includes a sample handling laboratory, 24-hour medical cover, local GMP pharmacy, contiguous access to the Accident and Emergency department at the Manchester Royal Infirmary and local bioanalytical support. The unit also features four environmentally controlled pharmacodynamic testing suites, where ICON models complex pathologies to identify early efficacy signals of compounds in clinical areas such as neuropathic pain, anxiety and cognitive degeneration.
For further information or photographs, please contact:
Rosie Allan, Weber Shandwick: 020 7067 0190
About ICON plc
ICON plc is a global provider of outsourced development services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries. 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. ICON currently has around 7,800 employees, operating from 71 locations in 39 countries.
Further information is available at www.iconplc.com
