Dublin-based clinical trials company Icon has commenced trading on US exchange Nasdaq, following its withdrawal from the Irish Stock Exchange on January 30th, 2013.

The company, which is listed under the ticker ICLR, joined the exchange at a price of $29.27 on February 4th, and fell back by almost 1 per cent in early trading.

On Monday the company, which provides clinical trials to the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, revealed that it had acquired a US healthcare company in a deal worth $52 million (€38 million).

Icon will pay $52 million in cash for the clinical trial services division of Cross Country Healthcare.

The business provides contract staffing to healthcare companies through its ClinForce and Assent Consulting units, which will come under Icon’s contract staff business Docs following completion of the deal.

As part of the deal Icon will also take over Akos, a division of the firm which provides drug safety services in the US and EU. The vendors stand to make up to a further $3.75 million in earn-out payments, dependent on certain targets being met.