Covid Researchers Icon, PRA Health Join in $12 Billion Deal (1)

Icon Plc agreed to buy PRA Health Sciences Inc. in a $12 billion cash and stock deal that combines two research providers supporting Covid vaccine and treatment trials.

Both companies help run outsourced clinical trials for drugmakers and medical device developers, a business that’s been caught up in the global rush to immunize populations against the coronavirus.

Icon helped recruit 44,000 participants in clinical trials of Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE’s Covid vaccine, and PRA has also supported research related to the pandemic, including trials of potential treatments.

PRA shareholders will receive $80 in cash and 0.4125 Icon share, ...