ICON releases its 2022 ICON Cares ESG Report

ICON plc, (NASDAQ: ICLR) a world-leading healthcare intelligence and clinical research organisation, today releases its ICON Cares 2022 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report. The company’s ICON Cares initiative incorporates its ESG, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging and Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives under one program.

The report provides an overview of ICON’s ESG activities in 2022 and the progress it has made in advancing its ESG priorities. These priorities include advancing public health and delivering increased access to clinical trials, providing a diverse and inclusive workplace with continuous opportunities for professional development and conducting business sustainably.

In recognition of progress made in its ESG efforts, in 2022, ICON was awarded a silver medal by EcoVadis, a leading provider of business sustainability ratings. ICON’s score positioned the company in the 87th percentile of firms assessed by EcoVadis. To drive further progress on reducing GHG emissions, in April 2023, ICON signed its commitment letter to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) as a first step in setting science-based climate targets.

On the publication of the report, Dr Steve Cutler, CEO, ICON commented: “This report shows what we can achieve for our customers, people, patients and communities as a leader in our industry. Our ESG priorities are in areas where we believe we can deliver the greatest impact, and we have made important progress toward these goals. Every advancement is underpinned by the energy, ambition and delivery of our global staff. I am highly encouraged as to what more we can accomplish in the future.”

Advancing public health and increased access to clinical trials

ICON has focused on creating a strong foundation that enables the execution of new and innovative methods for meeting patient needs and advancing public health. It is focusing its innovation efforts in three critical areas - improving clinical trial design and execution, enabling faster and more predictable patient recruitment, and evolving clinical trials to be more patient-centric.

Examples of activities in 2022 in this regard include:

• ICON released a major artificial intelligence enhancement to its proprietary OneSearch tool, which identifies the best sites for a trial opportunity. The results include significantly improved study start-up and site cycle times.
• In partnership with Veradigm, a health information technology, analytics and intervention solutions company, ICON created an electronic health records-based clinical research network. The partnership enables clinical research as a care option, which can help reach more diverse populations, increase recruitment rates and accelerate time-to-market for new therapies.

An inclusive workplace with continuous access to professional development