Contract research organizations (CROs) and electronic data capture (EDC) firms are increasing the pace of a dance that has gone on for several years.

In the latest announcement, Ireland’s Icon will partner with Phase Forward. Icon has $450 million in annual sales and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

Here’s a quote from the release:

“The new agreement will enable us to take advantage of Phase Forward’s proven expertise in managing trials worldwide and the company’s state of the art technology and strong global experience, which aligns well with our own expansion objectives,” said Tom O’Leary, global head of data management at Icon. “Phase Forward’s around-the-clock, multilingual technical support services staffed by in-house experts and the company’s commitment to quality make it a significant addition to our partnership roster.”

Phase Forward’s chief also contributed a quote to the press release:

“We look forward to working collaboratively on more joint business opportunities as Icon assists clients in accelerating and optimizing the clinical trial life cycle,” said Bob Weiler, CEO and president. “We are impressed with Icon’s experienced team, which has built a worldwide reputation for excellence.”

It’s a significant win for Phase Forward—and one with good timing. The clinical trial technology suite supplier has a quarterly teleconference with analysts this week, and will certainly be asked for details about the Icon deal. In the past, sponsors often directed each CRO to use a particular EDC supplier. But that is changing. As CROs are gaining more comfort and experience with EDC, and as drug companies want their outsourcing firms to be as efficient as possible, some sponsors of clinical trials are allowing CROs to specify which technology provider is used for a particular clinical trial. In such cases, Icon will be picking Phase Forward out of familiarity and, presumably, the operational speed and efficiencies to be had from such familiarity.