Dublin, Ireland, 2nd July 2013 - ICON plc, (NASDAQ: ICLR) a global provider of outsourced development services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries, today announced the appointment of Professor Brendan Buckley as Chief Medical Officer. In this role, Professor Buckley will be ICON's lead medical expert, representing the company's position on key scientific, ethical and medical governance matters and he will also provide guidance and oversight to the medical and scientific groups across ICON.

An endocrinologist with over 30 years' experience, Brendan joined ICON through the acquisition of Firecrest Clinical in 2011, where he was one of the founders of the company and Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs. Brendan has extensive experience in clinical trials and chairs several independent Data and Safety Monitoring Boards for medium to large cardio-metabolic and rare disease clinical studies. Brendan is Clinical Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at the School of Medicine, University College Cork (UCC), Ireland, and has also been director of the university's European Center for Clinical Trials in Rare Diseases. He has been a board member of the Irish Medicines Board and of theEuropean Medical Agency (EMA)'s Scientific Advisory Group for Diabetes and Endocrinology since 2005. He was also a member of the EMA Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products from 2000-2003 and a member of the EMA's panel of experts. Professor Buckley is also chairman of the Irish Statutory Anti-Doping Agency and is a member of the UK Anti-Doping Scientific Advisory Board. 

Commenting on the appointment, Ciaran Murray, CEO ICON plc, said: "I would like to congratulate Brendan on his new role and welcome him to ICON's executive leadership team. Brendan's wealth of experience both as an advisor to European regulatory agencies and a physician with over 30 years of clinical trial experience, will help us advance our clients' products through their development pipelines and ensure ICON studies continue to be performed to the highest scientific and ethical standards."

The statements made in this press release may contain forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. A description of risks and uncertainties relating to ICON and its business can be found in Forms 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31st 2012 and in the other forms filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, including the F-1, S-8 and F-3. ICON disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

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 approximately 10,200 employees, operating from 79 locations in 37 countries.

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