Company History

From a small team of 5 people in 1990, ICON now employs over 7,100 people.

History


From a small team of 5 people in 1990, ICON now employs over 7,300 people across 71 offices in 39 countries. We have mainly grown organically, but have bolstered our growth through a number of strategic acquisitions which have broadened our service portfolio and have added scale to existing services.

Key Company Milestones


  • 1990 - ICON founded in Dublin, Ireland, by Dr. John Climax & Dr. Ronan Lambe
     
  • 1991 - ICON opens its first overseas office in Winchester, UK
     
  • 1992 - ICON opens its first US office in Philadelphia
     
  • 1994 - ICON becomes first CRO to be awarded the ISO 9001 certification
     
  • 1996 - ICON opens its first Asian office in Tokyo, Japan
     
  • 1998 - ICON IPO’s and begins trading on the NASDAQ exchange
     
  • 1998 - ICON opens its first South American office in Buenos Aires, Argentina
     
  • 2000 - ICON acquires UK-based regulatory consultancy
     
  • 2000 - ICON acquires Central Laboratory in New York
     
  • 2002 - ICON acquires staffing group Managed Clinical Solutions
     
  • 2002 - ICON opens first African office in South Africa
     
  • 2003 - ICON acquires Medeval, a UK-based Phase I facility
     
  • 2003 - ICON acquires US consulting firm Globomax
     
  • 2004 - ICON acquires 70% interest in Medical Imaging specialist Beacon Bioscience Inc.
     
  • 2005 - ICON opens first Indian office in Chennai
     
  • 2006 - ICON acquires Outcomes Research and Health Economics specialist, Ovation Research Group
     
  • 2007 - ICON acquires European Staffing group DOCS International
     
  • 2008 - ICON acquires US Phase I Provider Healthcare Discoveries
     
  • 2008 - ICON acquires US Bioanlytical Lab, Prevalere Life Sciences
     
  • 2009 - ICON acquires Veeda Laboratories, a UK Biomarker Lab
     
  • 2010 - ICON acquires Timaq Medical Imaging Inc., a Swiss Imaging Specialist.