A leading medical device company partnered with ICON to streamline budget development and negotiation for a retrospective data collection study involving 158 participants, 26 sites, and 5 countries across the United States and Europe. ICON’s responsibilities differed by region:

EU sites: Create budgets and transfer them to the sponsor for negotiation

US sites: Lead negotiations directly with sites and deliver fully executed budgets

The sponsor, new to outsourcing budget development, needed a clear view of how budget methodologies, roles, and communication channels would work across regions. Early misalignment on costing assumptions and workflow expectations created delays and inconsistencies that slowed initial progress.

ICON introduced a highly structured, collaborative model that aligned all teams and accelerated budget delivery. Cross-functional working sessions brought the sponsor and ICON teams together to establish one consistent, transparent process. Solution highlights included:

• Joint planning meetings to define responsibilities, workflows, and expectations
• Direct involvement of ICON’s costing experts to explain budget methodology
• Clear guidelines for when sponsor input was needed during site negotiations
• Streamlined communication paths between ICON, sponsor teams, and sites

ICON delivered a unified, efficient approach that improved clarity, accelerated timelines, and strengthened site and sponsor engagement. This approach delivered faster budget creation, smoother site negotiations, and significantly improved communication while resulting in a highly positive experience for the sponsor and participating sites.