Iris Pharma and Oculos Clinical Research, two CROs focused on the eye, have inked a strategic alliance to boost their profiles in the contracting world.
Iris, headquartered in France, is a full-service researcher with a 26-year history of helping get ocular drugs and devices onto the market. And Oculos, based in Tampa, FL, offers trial design and execution services alongside regulatory work.
Together, the two companies believe they can provide pharma and med tech developers with all they need to get an early-stage product through the development process, with expertise in glaucoma, dry eye, anti-inflammatory and age-related macular degeneration.
"We have been exploring several opportunities to consolidate our presence in the U.S. and Oculos appears to be a perfect partner for us at a stage where we are experiencing a rapid growth," Iris CEO Pierre-Paul Elena said in a statement.
Today's Iris came to be after a 2007 merger with Clirophtha, a fellow French CRO specializing in eye R&D. The company has long had its sights set on the U.S., pairing up with stateside preclinical researcher RxGen in 2012 to share services.
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