Pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device developer ICON has acquired the clinical trial services business of US healthcare recruiter Cross Country Healthcare for $55.75m (£35.64m).

Florida-based Cross Country president and chief executive officer Joseph A Boshart says: “Selling this business is a logical step as we narrow our focus and concentrate our resources on our core nurse and allied staffing and our physician staffing businesses, which pro forma would represent about 90% of our consolidated revenue."