Dublin-based Icon Clinical is cheering up Deutsche Bank. The investment house just reiterated a 'buy' on Icon, raising its target price from $23 to $25.50, and said that it now believes the clinical outsourcing industry is on the mend. "Our recent channel checks have given us increased confidence that the CRO industry is stabilizing. We have re-visited our view on the CRO industry and ICLR in particular: 1) Industry-wide stabilization taking hold, with solid RFP flows for ICLR a positive data point; 2) ICLR's exposure to ongoing pharma M&A limited (7 percent of bookings),” the German firm says, forecasting 14 percent operating margins for the CRO by the end of fiscal year 2010.

Patient recruitment firm Integrated Clinical Trial Services has a white paper on the changing role of medical science liaisons (MSL). No, those are not romantic dalliances on hospital soap operas but, rather, industry-based intermediaries between science and marketing efforts. "Perhaps we should rename Dr. John Gray’s book to Physicians are from Mars, Sponsors are from Venus in order to better portray the need for both sides to be recognized and heard. Yet, it is a must for the MSL and physician to talk to one another in order to effectively represent and honor the advancement of the science behind new therapies and novel uses for existing compounds," writes David Shearer, VP of clinical operations at the firm.

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Difficult times for MDS, the Canadian parent company of Philly area-based MDS Pharma Services. The firm just announced it lost $17 million in the second quarter, ended April 30, compared with a profit of $13 million during the same period last year. Revenue fell almost 20 percent to $282 million. The news came just 10 days after MDS Pharma announced the sale of its late-stage research holdings to INC Research for a meager $50 million. The firm's plans for the third quarter involve cutting 180 jobs, which it estimates will result in annual savings of about $9 million.

Separately, MDS Pharma announced that it's renovating and expanding its discovery pharmacology operation in Taiwan. The move is aligned with MDS Pharma's new focus on discovery through Phase IIa proof-of-concept services, which is what's left after the INC sale. "This new and expanded facility will cement our position as the global leader in the discovery pharmacology space, where we are one of the top two providers of molecular screening, and a key supplier of in vivo efficacy and safety testing," said MDS Pharma president David Spaight.

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The Carlsbad, Ca.-based CRO Synteract is adding venture capital firms to the types of entities for which it provides consulting. The firm says venture capitalists often don't have in-house clinical expertise to assess product development programs for integration of sound science with the realities of the regulatory and marketing dynamics. Synteract “is uniquely positioned in the CRO space to provide these much needed services to early or mid-stage portfolio companies of life science VC firms," says Michael Magliochetti, Synteract's CEO.

Target Health, one of the earliest CROs to take a serious interest in technology, says three products that relied on its electronic data capture (EDC) system have won regulatory approval in 2009. The latest is an emergency contraceptive from HRA Pharma. Separately, Target Health is contributing to an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) effort to develop guidelines for connecting clinical trial systems with electronic health record (EHR) systems in hospitals and physician offices, as this announcement notes.

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