Building a scalable partnership model to accelerate biopharma innovation

A leading venture capital fund, focused on advancing breakthrough biopharma innovation, and sought to establish a scalable operational framework to support its growing portfolio of early-stage companies.

Recognising that traditional CRO models often lacked the flexibility or strategic alignment required by emerging biotechs, the fund identified ICON as a global CRO partner capable of delivering integrated support—from early development through to trial execution.

The resulting partnership blends financial investment, executive commitment, and shared operational infrastructure, accelerating study timelines and improving delivery across the portfolio.

Early-stage biotech companies face unique challenges in clinical development, including:

For the VC fund, supporting multiple companies simultaneously made it difficult to ensure consistent oversight, cost transparency, and operational efficiency. The traditional sponsor-CRO model lacked the structure and scalability needed to support a portfolio-wide delivery approach.

To address these challenges, ICON established a robust partnership model grounded in shared investment, governance, and delivery capabilities.

Strategic alignment

• ICON became a financial investor in three of the VC’s funds
• Executive leadership from both organisations participate in ongoing strategic oversight and planning

Operational infrastructure and governance

• A dedicated internal business unit was created within ICON to support VC fund sponsor companies
• A portfolio financial analyst delivers standardised monthly finance reports, quarterly business reviews, and resourcing projections
• A centralised document repository provides biotech friendly templates that have been vetted by other VC sponsors for standard study documents, legal contracts, and operational manuals to provide a strong foundation for sponsors entering the clinic for the first time

Performance monitoring and recognition

• A portfolio project analyst provides monthly KPI reporting across all active studies, including:
  • Site activation timelines, SIVs, recruitment rates, and protocol deviations
  • Monitoring timeliness, data cleaning, eTMF completeness, and optional central lab metrics
• ICON established the INSPIRE programme to empower sponsors to recognise top-performing study teams with monetary awards
• The ENGAGE survey programme captures sponsor and site feedback twice per year from key contacts to measure satisfaction and track delivery performance over time

Portfolio-level coordination

• Monthly snapshots and quarterly summaries support portfolio-wide oversight
• Weekly calls with sponsor teams accelerate contracting and study start-up
• Regular senior-level reviews ensure visibility, escalation, and proactive planning
• Programme-level resourcing ensures stable staffing across clinical monitoring and study start-up functions

ICON’s integrated, portfolio-based approach has delivered measurable improvements in consistency, speed, and sponsor satisfaction.

Growth and engagement

• 18+ studies completed or ongoing with VC-backed sponsor companies
• 2 sponsors engaged under a preferred partner model
• Average of 2 new sponsor companies onboarded each year
• ICON also hosts an annual educational summit for the VC funded companies, which provides strategic insights and networking to foster collaboration, share best practices, and spotlight operational innovations

Cycle time reduction

The partnership has contributed to significantly faster study start-up across the portfolio, with tangible improvements in cycle times when compared to both industry averages and ICON’s internal benchmarks.

Two recent studies for a VC fund sponsor demonstrated accelerated site initiation compared to the typical 9-month industry benchmark:

• Study A: Final approved protocol (FAP) to first site initiated in 6.3 months
• Study B: Achieved the same milestone in just 4 months

For a second VC fund sponsor ICON delivered two studies that reduced start-up timelines by 6.5 months and 5.4 months respectively, from FAP to last site initiation visit (LSIV) when compared to ICON’s average across all studies.

Experience and satisfaction measurement

To ensure a continuous feedback loop, ICON includes all VC fund sponsors in its ENGAGE customer survey programme. Conducted twice per year, the survey captures input from sponsor and site contacts to measure satisfaction, identify areas for improvement, and benchmark delivery performance over time. This structured voice-of-the-customer process reinforces ICON’s commitment to sponsor and site experience.

These results highlight how the partnership’s streamlined processes, shared governance, and proactive planning deliver measurable efficiencies in real-world study delivery.