What Pharsight does

Pharsight Corporation is a privately held software and scientific consulting services provider headquartered in Mountain View, California, founded in 1995. The firm employs 51-100 people and operates in the United States, serving pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, per its published firmographic description. Pharsight was acquired by Certara in 2012, and the consolidated dataset suggests Pharsight's legacy clinical trial simulation and pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic expertise has been folded into Certara's broader drug development portfolio spanning biosimulation, regulatory submissions, and scientific informatics.

The input does not surface Pharsight's current product roadmap, customer roster, pricing structure, or revenue mechanics as a standalone entity. Certara (NASDAQ: CERT), the acquirer, has scaled into a 1,550+ employee operation across 30+ countries with an integrated software and services platform (Phoenix, Simcyp, Pinnacle 21, D360, GlobalSubmit, BaseCase, CoAuthor, Certara.AI), enterprise subscription pricing, and recognition as a contributor to 90% of FDA novel drug approvals from 2014-2025. That operating and financial scale reflects the parent, not Pharsight as currently constituted.

As a result, the standalone Pharsight entity appears positioned as a specialist services firm serving US pharma/biotech, with limited public visibility into its current market position, customer concentration, or expansion cadence. Investment-grade judgments on Pharsight's standalone scale, moat depth, and trajectory are constrained by the data gap and rely primarily on its firmographic fingerprint.

Name

Pharsight

Legal name

Certara USA, Inc.

Website

https://pharsight.com

Company type

Public

Founded year

1998

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Pharsight Corporation is a private US software and scientific consulting services firm founded in 1995, headquartered in Mountain View, California, serving pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients with 51-100 employees.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Drug Development Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (513210), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (54169)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Pharmacovigilance & Drug Safety Software (HLAGAJAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Clinical Trial Informatics (EDC/CTMS/eCOA/eTMF) (HLAGAJAM), Pharmacovigilance, Risk Management & Medical Affairs CROs (HLAGAAAH), Market Access, Pricing & Reimbursement (Evidence Generation) FSP (HLAGAOAN)

Keywords

• Clinical trial simulation
• Pharmacokinetic analysis
• Pharmacodynamic modeling
• Drug development software
• Scientific consulting services

Headquarters

HQ city

Mountain View

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Software Licenses and Subscriptions: Enterprise software solutions including Phoenix, Pinnacle 21, Simcyp, D360, GlobalSubmit, BaseCase, Certara.AI, CoAuthor, Chemaxon, and SEND Explorer offered through licensing and subscription models
2. Professional Services: Modeling and simulation services, biometrics and data science, drug development support, regulatory strategy, real-world evidence and market access, and therapeutic specialty consulting services

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Pharsight Corporation provides software and scientific consulting services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Its portfolio centers on clinical trial simulation and pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) analysis tools used by drug development teams to model drug behavior, optimize dosing, and support go/no-go decisions during preclinical and clinical phases. Pharsight was acquired by Certara in 2012, and its flagship Phoenix platform is now part of Certara's broader drug development software suite.

Product overview

Certara offers a comprehensive drug development solutions platform comprising multiple integrated software products spanning the entire drug development lifecycle from discovery through market access. The portfolio includes Phoenix for PK/PD/toxicokinetic modeling, Pinnacle 21 for regulatory data standardization, Certara IQ for quantitative systems pharmacology, Simcyp for PBPK simulation, D360 for scientific informatics, GlobalSubmit for eCTD submissions, BaseCase for value storytelling, SEND Explorer for nonclinical data visualization, Certara.AI as the AI platform for life sciences, and CoAuthor for generative AI-powered regulatory writing. These products are complemented by strategic services including regulatory strategy, modeling and simulation, biometrics and data science, drug development support, and therapeutic area expertise. The platform serves biotech, pharma, and CRO customers with solutions aligned with recognized industry standards and regulatory requirements.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Phoenix: PK, PD, and toxicokinetic analysis and modeling software
• Pinnacle 21
• Simcyp
• D360
• GlobalSubmit
• Certara.AI
• CoAuthor
• BaseCase
• SEND Explorer
• Non-Animal Navigator
• Certara IQ
• Chemaxon

Products and services

• Phoenix PK, PD, and toxicokinetic analysis and modeling platform originally developed by Pharsight for pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic studies used by drug development teams at pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.
• Scientific Consulting Services Expert scientific consulting supporting clinical trial simulation, pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic analysis, and drug development strategy for pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients.

Quantifiable outcome

• 90% of all novel drug approvals by FDA from 2014 through 2025 involved Certara customers
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature11 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• European Medicines Agency (EMA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCertara was reappointed for a European Medicines Agency contract, expanding opportunities to shape the future of real-world evidence for regulatory decision-making. This partnership positions Certara as a key contributor to EMA regulatory science initiatives.
• Secondary IntelligencecoreTechnology or IntegrationCertara integrated D360 with Secondary Intelligence software to enhance predicting drug safety risk. This integration combines D360's scientific informatics with Secondary Intelligence's safety analysis capabilities.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves1 record

Direct peers

• Veeva Systems: Veeva is a direct peer in life-sciences cloud software, offering Vault-based solutions that overlap with Certara's regulatory (eCTD), clinical, and quality software. Both sell enterprise subscription software to large pharma and biotech.
• Simulations Plus: Simulations Plus directly competes with Certara's Simcyp and Phoenix through its GastroPlus, MonolixSuite and other PBPK/PKPD modeling tools, serving the same model-informed drug development buyers.
• Schrödinger: Schrödinger competes with Certara in computational drug discovery and predictive modeling, offering physics-based and ML platforms used by similar pharma and biotech R&D customers.

Broad incumbents

• IQVIA: IQVIA is a broad incumbent spanning clinical research services, real-world evidence and technology platforms (e.g., EDC, CTMS) that overlap with Certara's clinical, regulatory and real-world evidence offerings to large pharma.
• ICON plc: ICON is a global CRO with growing technology-enabled services in biometrics, regulatory and clinical trial delivery, competing with Certara's services arm for pharma and biotech outsourcing budgets.
• Medidata Solutions (Dassault Systèmes): Medidata provides the Rave EDC/CTMS/eCOA platform used widely in clinical trials, making it a broad incumbent adjacent to Certara's trial-related modeling and Pinnacle 21 CDISC compliance tooling.
• Charles River Laboratories: Charles River provides preclinical CRO services and scientific software-supported workflows that overlap with Certara's preclinical modeling and consulting offerings to pharma and biotech.
• Labcorp: Labcorp's early development and clinical trial services compete with Certara's services arm for pharma R&D outsourcing, particularly in clinical pharmacology and bioanalytical work.

Emerging players

• L7 Informatics: L7 Informatics offers a scientific data and workflow platform for life sciences R&D, an emerging alternative to Certara's D360 scientific informatics offering.
• ArisGlobal: ArisGlobal provides life-sciences R&D technology including pharmacovigilance and regulatory platforms, overlapping with Certara's drug safety, regulatory submission and pharmacovigilance services.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat1 record

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/PharsightCorp
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/CertaraLP
• Facebookfacebook.com/CertaraLP
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pharsight-corporation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Pharsight