OUR AREAS OF EXPERTISE

A specialty CRO with experts who’ve made these calls before

From first dose through Phase IV and real-world evidence, our expertise exclusively spans neuroscience, infectious diseases and vaccines, and cardiometabolic diseases. Bring us your clinical development studies, real-world evidence projects, or both.

Talk to an expert Explore our expertise

See the proof

After 1,000+ studies, very little surprises us

Across 75+ countries and every phase of development, we’ve seen how neuroscience, infectious diseases and vaccines, and cardiometabolic studies unfold, and where they tend to stall. You get a team that plans for the hard parts and moves fast when the unexpected shows up anyway.

Our therapeutic expertise

Serious therapeutic depth behind every clinical and real-world evidence study we run.

Complex studies test every decision. The right therapeutic experts know the science, the sites, and where delivery can break.

Neuroscience CRO

Some of the hardest indications in medicine, run by people who have spent their careers in them. We know the endpoints, the raters and the sites that actually deliver.

140+ studies Learn more

Infectious disease and vaccine CRO

Respiratory and tropical infections, antimicrobial resistance, and global vaccine studies, run by teams on the ground where infectious diseases circulate. We read the epidemiology before we write the protocol.

400+ studies Learn more

Cardiometabolic disease CRO

Event-driven outcomes trials and the tough-to-recruit metabolic indications: obesity, diabetes, MASH, and lipid disorders. We keep the participants we recruit.

100+ studies Learn more

You have our word

No hand-offs. No trade-offs. Just experts giving everything they’ve got for your medicine.

Meet our experts

Lieza Exalto, MD, PhD

Head of Medical and Scientific Strategy, Neuroscience

Neuroscience

Shaping medical and scientific strategy for neuroscience studies, drawing on expertise in dementia and neurodegeneration.

Michael Markowitz, MD, MBA, MSPH

Medical Scientist

Neuroscience

25+ years in pharmaceutical medical affairs, from Parkinson’s to schizophrenia, now advancing neuroscience programs.

Rana Hanna Al-Shaikh, MD, MSc

Senior Medical Monitor

Infectious diseases
Vaccines

Movement disorder and neurodegeneration research at Mayo Clinic, now providing expert medical oversight for neuroscience studies.

Michael Katwere, MB ChB, MRCP(UK), MSc

Senior Medical Director

Practicing infectious disease physician with 15+ years in pharmacovigilance and trials, from Ebola to HIV vaccines.

Diederick (Rick) E. Grobbee, MD, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer

Leadership
Cardiometabolic

Shaping scientific strategy across every study, backed by decades of leadership in large-scale cardiometabolic research.

Manuel Castro Cabezas, MD, PhD

Expert Scientific Officer

Cardiometabolic

Practicing internist-endocrinologist and vascular specialist, now bringing clinical depth to cardiometabolic research.

Press release

First FDA protocol milestone in The Michael J. Fox Foundation’s Path to Prevention platform trial

five months after joining as clinical operations partner, our team submitted the first regimen-specific protocol to the U.S. FDA for a platform trial testing whether early intervention can change the course of Parkinson’s disease.

Case study

Delivering a global Phase III outcomes trial in type 2 diabetes

A top-10 pharmaceutical company chose us to run an event-driven trial of 7,226 patients across 720 sites in 26 countries.

Case study

From Phase I to licensure: a 15-year vaccine partnership

What began as data management for one early study grew into full-service delivery across 20+ studies in four regions, through to licensure.

Support at every stage of development

Early phase, late phase, and real-world evidence, each run by its own specialists.

Early phase clinical development

Confident first steps from first dose to proof of concept, with answers your next study can trust

Explore early phase

Late phase clinical development

Phase IIb to Phase IV trials at scale, built to carry your program through approval and beyond

Explore late phase

Real-world evidence studies

Regulatory-grade post-approval safety and effectiveness studies, led by RWE specialists who stay within reach

Explore real-world evidence

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Answers to your questions about our expertise

Therapeutic expertise means understanding the disease biology, endpoints, participant population, sites, and treatment pathway behind a clinical study.

Real-world evidence is evidence generated by analyzing real-world data from registries, observational studies, databases, electronic health records, and other routine-care data. Sponsors use it for feasibility, safety, effectiveness, burden of disease, access, and post-approval decisions.

A specialty CRO focuses on defined therapeutic areas rather than every indication, giving sponsors access to scientists, sites, and operational teams with relevant study experience. AKEURA combines this specialized expertise with full-service capabilities in each of its therapeutic areas.

AKEURA specializes in neuroscience, cardiometabolic diseases, and infectious diseases and vaccines, with rare disease and real-world evidence expertise running through all three.

Yes. AKEURA supports clinical trials, standalone real-world evidence studies, or both. Our distinct clinical development and real-world evidence teams work independently or together, so you can follow a medicine from first-in-human through Phase IV and real-world use.

AKEURA supports Phase I–IV clinical trials, epidemiological research, and real-world evidence studies across 75+ countries, including extensive experience in Africa and other resource-constrained settings.

Services include epidemiology and study design; post-authorization safety and effectiveness; registries and observational studies; database and electronic health record analysis; systematic reviews; burden-of-disease and health economics research; vaccine effectiveness; safety surveillance; and pharmacovigilance.

A clinical trial tests an intervention under a defined protocol. A real-world evidence study analyzes data from routine care, registries, databases, or observational research. Sponsors often use both to answer different questions before and after approval.

Choose a CRO with relevant therapeutic expertise, experienced study leaders, and direct access to decision-makers. Look for evidence of their track record for delivering the required phase, population, and geography. At AKEURA, you meet the experts who will lead your study before you sign.

Yes. Rare disease expertise is embedded across AKEURA’s neuroscience, cardiometabolic, and infectious diseases and vaccines teams. We bring specialist networks, indication knowledge, and global experience in recruiting small, geographically dispersed participant populations.

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Erik van Zandbergen

Senior Vice President, Operations

Overseeing global clinical operations, drawing on a pharmacy background and 15+ years of CRO business development leadership.

Tell us about your program

Global headquarters

Nieuweroordweg 1,
3704 EC Zeist,
The Netherlands

+31 30 656 99 00

Weena 690,
Unit 26.18,
3012 CN Rotterdam,
The Netherlands

A specialty CRO with experts who’ve made these calls before

After 1,000+ studies, very little surprises us