Icon says revenue and earnings will soar in 2022 thanks to growing demand for trial services and the contribution from recent acquisition PRA Health Sciences.
The Dublin, Ireland-based contract research organization (CRO) expects full-year revenue to be in the $7.77 billion to $8.05 billion range, up 43 to 46% year on year. It expects earnings for the period to increase 21 to 23%.
CEO Steve Cutler cited increased demand for clinical trial services from drug industry customers from the end of 2021 and into the New Year as the basis for the forecast.
“We saw strong demand from customers that resulted in a trailing twelve-month book to bill of 1.3x and total backlog of $18.6 billion at the end of the third quarter 2021.”
He also cited Icon’s “solid performance in 2021 coupled with continued strength in the broader industry environment.”
Icon reiterated that it expects 2021 revenue to be in the $5.43 to $5.53 billion range – an increase from the $2.97 billion it brought in in 2020.
PRA Health Sciences boost
Icon has made several acquisitions in recent years the most significant of which, in terms of revenue and capacity, was US counterpart PRA Health Sciences which is bought in July for a reported $12 billion.
Cutler predicted PRA would be a major revenue driver in 2022, telling delegates during his presentation at the JP Morgan Healthcare virtual event the acquisition had virtually doubled Icon’s revenue and backlog of work.
“PRA colleagues Icon Colleagues and we are now new Icon and together we are really taking the market by storm. We are engaged in a number of strategic partnership discussions with large pharma customers.”
Cutler also cited the “strong” financial environment as a driver, adding “We’re in a good place. The market continues to grow. Outsourcing continues to grow, R&D budgets continue to grow.”
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