ICON plc has signed a collaborative agreement with the Central Manchester University Hospitals Foundation to develop a purpose built translational medicine facility.

The new facility forms part of an expansion plan being undertaken by Central Manchester University Hospitals Foundation Trust (CMFT) to develop the existing Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI) campus.
 
The plan has already delivered Britain’s largest children’s hospital with the remainder of the campus development, which will house an ICON-designed state-of-the-art Translational Medicine Unit, due for completion by April 2012.

In the interim, ICON, a global provider of outsourced development services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries, will transfer its current clinical pharmacology services into dedicated clinical research facilities on the Manchester Royal Infirmary site.

President of ICON Development Solutions, Dr Thomas Frey, said the company was delighted to be collaborating with the CMFT and the Manchester Academic Health Centre to continue to develop the region as an international centre of excellence in translational medicine.

Mike Deegan, Chief Executive of the CMFT, added: “Our aim is to build upon our investments in facilities and high calibre clinical academic staff to consolidate our reputation as a leading international research hospital.

“This exciting new collaboration with ICON is a major step for the Trust and will accelerate the translation of research discoveries into new medicines. We look forward to working with the highly regarded ICON team.”

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