“Our mission is to offer our clients a simple, integrated, outsourcing solution that removes the need for multiple providers during the early stages of drug development.”
These words from Chris Perkin, CEO of Altasciences, articulate the bold vision driving one of the biopharmaceutical industry’s most dynamic contract research organizations (CROs). Under his leadership, the company has emerged as a catalytic force, shattering long-established paradigms, pioneering an integrated solution that safely accelerates the development of new therapies.
For decades, the traditional drug development outsourcing model remained largely unchanged, mired in inefficiencies as sponsors were forced to navigate a byzantine maze of disparate vendors. Chris recognized this fundamental flaw as an opportunity for radical transformation.
“We’re eliminating those silos and offering sponsors a seamless, end-to-end solution for all their early-phase needs,” Chris explains. “This integrated approach compresses timelines, reduces costs, and ultimately helps sponsors achieve their goal of delivering better drugs to patients faster, without compromising on safety or quality.”
It’s an ethos that has propelled Altasciences’ growth and established the company as an industry vanguard with a footprint spanning three countries and nine state-of-the-art facilities. Strategic acquisitions and facility expansions have armed Altasciences with a comprehensive suite of services, from dedicated R&D centers conducting preclinical studies and clinical pharmacology, to bioanalytical laboratories and manufacturing facilities harnessing the latest technologies.
The company couples their unrivaled end-to-end, fully integrated capabilities with a progressive, client-centric service model. Rather than functioning as a transactional vendor, Altasciences embeds itself into sponsors’ core teams, leveraging cross-functional expertise to drive timely, data-driven decisions that steer studies towards maximum impact.
“We become true partners in our clients’ missions,” Chris states. “Their goals become our goals. Their challenges become our challenges to solve through quality science, innovation, and deep collaboration.” Clients have taken note of this distinctive approach, fueling year-over-year growth and prestigious accolades for Altasciences’ transformative approach. As a self-described “catalyst for change,” Chris is charting an inspired path forward for the life science services sector.
“For too long, our industry moved at the same disjointed pace,” he says. “Now, we’re accelerating progress as a forward-thinking and silo-free CRO/CDMO partner.” With leaders like Chris upending the status quo, the dream of a future where better drugs reach people faster is now a reality.
Let us explore Altasciences’ journey in much more detail:
Revolutionizing Drug Development with Integrated Outsourcing Solutions
Altasciences provides sponsors with a streamlined, integrated outsourcing solution, eliminating the need for multiple service providers in the early stages of drug development. Its devotion to delivering better drugs to those in need is evident in its innovative approach to drug development outsourcing.
In an industry where the traditional outsourcing model has remained largely unchanged since the 1960s, Altasciences stands out as a beacon of progress. It has recognized the evolving landscape of the drug industry, particularly among small- to mid-sized biotechs and biopharma, and has responded with an alternative outsourcing model designed to enhance the speed and efficiency of drug development.
Altasciences takes a holistic view of drug development, treating it as a continuum rather than a series of disjointed steps. By integrating early-phase services, it empowers sponsors to seamlessly conduct preclinical and clinical research, including bioanalysis, drug formulation and manufacturing, and the comprehensive range of CRO services—all under one roof. This integrated approach allows sponsors to reach critical decision-making milestones faster than ever before.
Transforming Drug Development
In the traditional model, CROs have typically served as auxiliary entities for pharmaceutical companies. Sponsors would engage different CROs and CDMOs to handle specific aspects or phases of their research and development (R&D) endeavors. This approach has resulted in CROs possessing niche expertise, unable to seamlessly support sponsors as their projects transition between phases.
Consequently, it has fostered a siloed approach, characterized by numerous inefficiencies for sponsors: multiple rounds of contract negotiations, communication gaps across phases and scientific teams, protracted timelines, avoidable errors in data transfer and methodologies, and a burdensome project management load, among others.
At Altasciences, the integration of early-phase drug development services has pioneered a paradigm shift. This proactive approach has effectively dismantled the obstacles and challenges inherent in the traditional outsourcing model. By streamlining the process, remarkable reductions in end-to-end program timelines have been achieved, with potential savings of up to 40%.
When sponsors opt for Altasciences, they benefit from a single point of contact, a unified team, a singular contract, and a seamlessly coordinated approach. Their projects receive personalized attention, ensuring accelerated R&D processes without compromising safety or quality standards.
Impactful Solution for Biopharma’s Split-CRO Challenge
A notable success story involves a biopharma company based on the West Coast that approached Altasciences due to challenges with the split-CRO model. This client faced the predicament of having their preclinical and clinical work handled by two separate CROs, leading to significant delays.
Specifically, they had to await completion of the preclinical portion before initiating the clinical phase, hindering progress, and jeopardizing project timelines. Despite the efforts of the two CROs, they failed to meet the client’s stringent schedule.
Upon engaging Altasciences, a synchronized approach was swiftly implemented for the client’s preclinical and clinical research activities. Altasciences seamlessly facilitated concurrent progress in both phases while concomitantly advancing the development of the client’s Investigational New Drug (IND) application and Investigator’s Brochure. Leveraging the Health Canada regulatory pathway, Altasciences expedited the timeline, ensuring the swift progression of the project.
Through diligent coordination, strategic timelines, and strategic utilization of regulatory pathways, Altasciences successfully reduced the client’s project timeline by an impressive 10 weeks. This achievement not only met but exceeded the client’s milestones with remarkable ease, showcasing the effectiveness of Altasciences’ integrated approach and commitment to delivering results.
Pioneering Collaborative Drug Development Partnerships
Establishing true partnerships with clients is integral to Altasciences’ foundation and culture. From the beginning, every step taken in building the one-stop solution has been guided by listening to the client base and the industry. Each decision to expand the offering has been directly influenced by client feedback. It is the clients who continue to drive innovation and improvement within Altasciences.
“Clients are increasingly turning away from their traditional, large CRO “safety zone” and seeking out Altasciences,” Chris explains. “They value the close attention, integrated approach, and safe reduction in drug development time that Altasciences, as a one-stop solution, can provide.”
This approach fosters the ability to build long-lasting, strategic partnerships with sponsors, where clients feel that Altasciences is an integral part of their team and vice versa. This partnership transforms drug development into a collaborative endeavor based on transparency, communication, and dependability.
This collaborative approach allows Altasciences to truly understand its clients’ needs, desires, and plans. Altasciences supports clients in preparing their drug development roadmap, identifying potential obstacles, and devising strategies to proactively overcome them. Overall, this fosters a more agile, flexible, efficient, and personal outsourcing experience where collaboration and partnership are the cornerstones of success.
Revolutionizing Drug Development
Given his decades of experience in the CRO industry and even a short stint in pharma, Chris long ago recognized a pressing need within the industry for an alternative outsourcing paradigm that catered to the realities of drug development, particularly for emerging and small- to mid-sized biotech and biopharma companies. Upon assuming the role of CEO in 2010, Chris embarked on a mission to bring this vision to fruition.
With a clear understanding of the challenges faced by the industry, he assembled a team of experts and initiated the process of transforming Altasciences into a comprehensive early-phase solution.
At the outset, Altasciences possessed one clinic focused on generic drug development. Chris swiftly took steps to expand the company’s capabilities, starting with the acquisition of a second clinical facility in Kansas City in 2013, thereby venturing into the innovator drug space. Subsequently, Altasciences procured its first preclinical facility in Seattle, marking the beginning of a period of rapid expansion.
From 2020 to 2023, Altasciences underwent further growth, adding a CDMO facility in Philadelphia, a third clinical unit in Los Angeles, and three additional preclinical facilities in Scranton, Columbia, and Sacramento; as well as significant expansions to its bioanalytical laboratories in Laval and Columbia. Additionally, Altasciences established an office in the UK, broadening its global footprint.
Each acquisition and expansion represented a strategic move towards realizing Chris’ vision of providing an all-in-one solution for early-phase drug development. Through these efforts, Altasciences has positioned itself as a leader in the industry, equipped to meet the diverse needs of its clients and drive innovation in drug development.
Comprehensive Approach to Early-Phase Drug Development
Altasciences offers a comprehensive range of early-phase services, providing sponsors with the flexibility to tailor their partnership according to their specific needs. Whether sponsors require support for a single study, an entire drug development program, or something in between, Altasciences stands ready to collaborate.
From initial lead candidate selection to the clinical proof of concept and beyond, sponsors have the freedom to chart their journey with Altasciences. This flexibility empowers sponsors to navigate their drug development process according to their unique requirements and objectives, and at their own pace.
Altasciences’ holistic service offering provides sponsors with a complete and integrated overview of their program. This vantage point allows Altasciences to anticipate and address any challenges that may arise throughout the project lifecycle and implement proactive adjustments to minimize delays or obstacles.
Embracing Challenges in the Drug Development Industry
Altasciences emphasizes the importance of inspiring teams to embrace new challenges as a key driver of success. In an industry characterized by constant evolution, fostering a culture of innovation is essential for staying at the forefront of preclinical and clinical research and pioneering novel approaches to drug development. Altasciences prides itself on its agility in adapting quickly to emerging challenges and opportunities.
The company’s commitment to innovation is evident in its continuous evolution of preclinical, clinical, bioanalytical, manufacturing, and formulation capabilities, processes, and equipment. Altasciences remains proactive in anticipating and meeting the ever-changing demands of the industry and its drug development pipelines. This adaptability is facilitated by a close alignment with clients and their evolving needs, as well as a willingness to think outside the box.
Altasciences’ global regulatory advisory team ensures that the company remains abreast of regulatory changes and new guidelines, enabling it to apply cutting-edge technologies and methods in compliance with regulatory requirements worldwide. By staying at the forefront of regulatory developments, Altasciences ensures that its approaches to drug development are not only innovative but also compliant with evolving regulatory standards across the globe.
Commitment to Client-centric Drug Development
Altasciences embodies a philosophy known as Proactive Drug Development, succinctly captured in three powerful words. This visionary concept is the cornerstone of Altasciences’ success as a fully integrated CRO/CDMO, where their expert scientific and operational teams harmoniously unite to oversee every facet of a client’s project, from its inception to fruition.
Distinguished by its innovative methodology, Altasciences’ Proactive Drug Development strategy offers a level of insight and foresight that is unparalleled in the industry. By anticipating and preparing for upcoming phases while actively engaged in the current phase, Altasciences sets itself apart from conventional linear task-based approaches.
One of the key advantages of this approach is the agility it affords in making dynamic adjustments and optimizations throughout the drug development journey. Altasciences’ adept team can, for example, refine the Investigator’s Brochure during the progression of IND-enabling studies, synchronize clinical program planning with preclinical safety evaluations, and accelerate first-in-human trials by aligning small-scale drug formulations with clinical activities.
At the heart of Proactive Drug Development is Altasciences’ dedicated project and program managers, who play a pivotal role in ensuring seamless project execution. Acting as the primary liaison for clients, these managers leverage a proprietary centralized scheduling system to orchestrate studies across Altasciences’ facilities, keeping clients abreast of any timeline adjustments and offering proactive strategies to mitigate potential delays.
Furthermore, Altasciences has implemented a cutting-edge proprietary communication database to facilitate seamless information exchange between scientific and operational teams. This proprietary system eliminates redundancy in client interactions across phases, locations, and departments, fostering efficient collaboration and enhancing project management effectiveness. Ultimately, this client-centric approach empowers Altasciences to consistently deliver exceptional results for its valued clients.
Looking to the Future: Nurturing Meaningful Partnerships
The most significant impact Altasciences envisions for the future of medicine lies in nurturing and expanding its relationships with clients. By engaging with clients earlier in the drug development cycle, even preceding regulatory studies, and maintaining partnerships throughout the entire early-phase development journey, the company firmly believes it can significantly enhance the future landscape of medicine.
This strategic approach allows clients to reap the greatest benefits of Proactive Drug Development, facilitating the expedited delivery of groundbreaking novel medicines and therapies to patients worldwide. By working closely with clients from the outset, Altasciences can leverage its expertise and resources to safely accelerate the development process.
From a scientific standpoint, Altasciences is actively transitioning one of its recent preclinical acquisitions to specialize in late discovery and pharmacokinetics, focusing on advanced modalities such as gene therapy, antibodies, and cell-based therapies. These progressive treatments hold immense promise, particularly in addressing cancer, neurological, blood, and eye diseases as well as inherited genetic disorders, and the company’s teams are dedicated to supporting sponsors in their development and deployment.
Industry Recognition
Amid a plethora of industry accolades, Altasciences has consistently garnered recognition from the CRO Leadership Awards across various categories for nearly a decade. Notably, it clinched the title of 2023 CRO Leadership Award Champion in the Capabilities category and was awarded a 2024 CRO Leadership Award in the same category.
These esteemed accolades were bestowed upon Altasciences based on the resounding votes of clients in ISR’s annual CRO Quality Benchmarking survey. Over forty CROs were assessed on more than 20 performance metrics in ISR’s annual CRO Quality Benchmarking survey.
Other recognitions include Most Innovative Pharmaceutical CRO (North America, 2023) from ghp Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Awards; listed as a Top 10 CRO Solution Provider (2023) from Medhealth Outlook; and named Top Integrated CRO 2024 by Life Science Review.
Furthermore, Chris has been honored as a Red Jacket recipient by PharmaVoice since 2019—a distinction reserved for exemplary leaders. This lifetime achievement award follows his consecutive four-year tenure as a PharmaVoice 100 Most Inspiring Leader in the Life Sciences Industry.
