Pharmassist

What Pharmassist does

Pharmassist is a privately held, full-service Contract Research Organisation founded in 1999 and headquartered in Athens, Greece, with a regional hub in London, UK. It delivers clinical trials, pharmacovigilance, regulatory affairs, medical affairs, and quality management services to pharmaceutical and biotech sponsors, primarily in Europe. The company reports having supported regulatory activities and clinical trials for more than 100 local and multinational pharmaceutical companies, with operational scale in the 51–100 employee range and a privately owned, 1,200+ square meter multi-level facility in Nea Ionia, Athens.

The business is anchored on two proprietary technology platforms developed alongside CRO service delivery. PVClinical is an IT platform for identification, investigation, and management of candidate Adverse Drug Reaction signals, integrating spontaneous reporting systems, electronic health records, literature, web search logs, and social media for post-market drug safety surveillance. Oncolipsy is a line of liquid biopsy diagnostic kits for predictive cancer biomarker detection, built on a 2016 exclusive licence with the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens ACTC Lab and supported by two pending PCT patent applications covering PIK3CA hotspot mutation detection and PD-L1 gene expression determination. R&D activities are funded by three EPAnEK grants totalling approximately €713,860 between 2018 and 2020, and the company holds ISO 9001:2015, ISO 13485:2016, ISO/IEC 27001:2013, French Ministry of Higher Education and Research R&D certification, and Synesgy ESG certification.

Pharmassist operates a professional services revenue model with quote-based, project-by-project CRO contracts, sold through direct enterprise sales and business development teams in Athens and London, supplemented by conference presence (DIA Europe, EUCROF, BioEurope, Swiss Biotech Day) and an annual in-house pharmacovigilance seminar series. Ownership remains with founder Ioanna I. Koukli, Managing Director since 1999, with a wholly owned UK subsidiary (Pharmassist UK (CRO) Ltd) and no disclosed institutional investors; operational expansion is signalled by active hiring for clinical research associates, quality assurance, and senior drug safety officers.

Name

Pharmassist

Legal name

Pharmassist Ltd

Website

https://pharmassist-cro.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Pharmassist is a Greek-founded, full-service Contract Research Organisation operating since 1999 from Athens and London, providing clinical trials, pharmacovigilance, regulatory affairs, medical affairs, and quality management services to pharmaceutical and biotech sponsors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Contract Research Organisation (CRO) Services

NAICS

Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYHLAGALAM

KOL Engagement & Medical Education (Advisory Boards/CME Support)

Healthcare & Life Sciences/Life Science Tools & Services (CRO/CDMO/Lab Services)/Pharmacovigilance & Medical Affairs Services

Keywords

• Contract research organization
• Clinical trial management
• Pharmacovigilance services
• Regulatory affairs consulting
• Medical affairs support

Headquarters

HQ city

Athens

HQ country

Greece

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Contract Research Organisation Services: Pharmassist operates as a full-service CRO providing Clinical Trials, Pharmacovigilance, Regulatory Affairs, Medical Affairs, and Quality Management services to pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Services are provided under contract with clients/sponsors on a project basis.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Pharmassist is a full-service Contract Research Organisation that delivers clinical trial management, pharmacovigilance, regulatory affairs, medical affairs, and quality management services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology sponsors across Europe. Engagements are run on a project-contract basis from its Athens (Greece) and London (UK) offices, supplemented by the proprietary PVClinical drug safety signal platform and Oncolipsy liquid biopsy diagnostic kits developed through internal R&D.

Product overview

Pharmassist is a full-service Contract Research Organisation (CRO) offering a comprehensive portfolio of clinical research services. The company operates a multi-product/platform architecture comprising proprietary technology products (PVClinical for pharmacovigilance signal management, Oncolipsy liquid biopsy diagnostics) alongside service offerings. Core services include Clinical Trials, Pharmacovigilance, Regulatory Affairs, Medical Affairs, and Quality Management, which are delivered as integrated full-service offerings or as stand-alone projects to pharmaceutical and biotech clients across Europe.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Oncolipsy: Liquid biopsy diagnostic kits in the field of oncology introduced by Pharmassist at the ACTC 2021 conference
• PVClinical

Products and services

• Clinical Trials Services Full-service clinical trial management for pharmaceutical and biotechnology sponsors covering study design, regulatory submissions, investigational product import permits, site monitoring, and submission of amendments and final reports to regulatory authorities.
• Pharmacovigilance Services Collection, evaluation and notification of safety information during clinical trial phases and post-marketing periods, including adverse event reporting, risk management plans, and safety signal analysis for pharmaceutical sponsors.
• Regulatory Affairs Services Regulatory submissions and compliance support to national agencies and Health Authorities including the Greek National Organization for Medicines (EOF), National Ethics Committee, Bioethics Committee, and EU regulatory bodies for pharmaceutical sponsors.
• Medical Affairs Services Medical affairs support including healthcare-professional engagement, medical information provision, and scientific communication support for pharmaceutical clients.
• Quality Management Services Quality assurance services including system audits, study-site audits, pre-inspection checks, clinical study document evaluation, vendor audits, and quality oversight visits for clinical research sponsors.
• PVClinical Platform IT platform for the identification, investigation and management of candidate Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR) signals, integrating data sources including spontaneous reporting systems, electronic health records, literature, web search logs, and social media for post-market drug safety surveillance.
• Oncolipsy Liquid Biopsy Diagnostic Kits Liquid biopsy diagnostic kits in the field of oncology for detection of predictive cancer biomarkers using circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), with CE-IVD labelling targeted for initial IVD products.

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Hellenic Bio Cluster (HBio)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPharmassist is a member of the Hellenic Bio Cluster, a Greek biotech industry association that promotes collaboration and networking among life sciences companies in Greece.
• Hellenic Association of CROs (HACRO)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMember of the Hellenic Association of CROs, representing and supporting the CRO industry in Greece.
• Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMember of the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry, supporting business development and commerce in the Athens region.
• UK BioIndustry Association (BIA)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMember of the UK BioIndustry Association, supporting the biotech and life sciences industry in the UK.
• National and Kapodistrian University of Athens - ACTC LabcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with the ACTC Lab of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens for the CANCER blood scan project on liquid biopsy cancer biomarker detection. Includes exclusive licensing agreement signed in 2016 with the University of Athens.
• Transcell Consortium PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership among three research organizations and two enterprises for the Transcell project developing advanced T-cell therapies for treatment of life-threatening infections and GvHD post allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• IQVIA: Largest global CRO and life sciences data/technology provider, offering clinical operations, real-world evidence, and pharmacovigilance. Overlaps with Pharmassist across clinical trials and pharmacovigilance but operates at vastly greater scale across a much broader services portfolio.
• Eurofins Scientific: European life sciences testing and CRO services conglomerate with central laboratory and clinical trial support capabilities. Comparable in European base and life sciences service breadth, though Eurofins is a much larger, broadly diversified incumbent.

Direct peers

• Parexel International: Global CRO offering clinical operations, regulatory, pharmacovigilance and commercialization services. Directly comparable service portfolio to Pharmassist, though materially larger and now privately held by EQT/Goldman Sachs.
• TFS HealthScience: Sweden-based mid-size global CRO with strong presence across Europe offering clinical development, clinical staffing and pharmacovigilance. Closely comparable European-headquartered mid-market full-service CRO with overlapping therapeutic and service line focus.
• Ergomed plc: UK-headquartered specialist CRO with strong pharmacovigilance and oncology clinical trial focus. One of the closest direct comparables to Pharmassist given overlapping service lines, UK/EU presence, and similar mid-market positioning before its take-private.
• CTI Clinical Trial & Consulting Services: US-based mid-size CRO with strong European presence and therapeutic specialization. Comparable full-service CRO model targeting biotech and mid-sized pharma sponsors, with similar positioning in the mid-market CRO segment.
• Medpace Holdings: US-based mid-size full-service CRO focused on small and mid-sized biopharma with full-service clinical development. Closely aligned business model and customer segment to Pharmassist, though at a larger scale and global footprint.
• Worldwide Clinical Trials: Mid-size global CRO with strong central nervous system and rare disease franchises offering clinical trial and post-approval services. Comparable mid-market full-service CRO model serving biotech and pharma sponsors.
• Charles River Laboratories: Global CRO and research services provider spanning early-stage discovery, clinical, and safety assessment. Comparable to Pharmassist in clinical trial and safety/pharmacovigilance offerings, particularly for European biotech sponsors.
• ICON plc: Ireland-headquartered global full-service CRO offering clinical trials, pharmacovigilance, regulatory and laboratory services. Directly comparable as a CRO serving pharmaceutical and biotech sponsors across multiple therapeutic areas, though materially larger in scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pharmassist-ltd.

Compliance5 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

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 Pharmassist