A CRO Partner for Complexity in a Renewed Biotech Market

By Richard Barfield, Executive Chairman, Evestia Clinical

The past year has been a defining one for Evestia Clinical. Our journey began with the acquisition of EMAS Pharma at the end of 2024, marking our evolution into Evestia Clinical and setting a clear ambition to build a leading, global, mid-tier specialist CRO. In 2025, we accelerated that strategy through our merger with Atlantic Research Group. This consolidated our presence in the United States, broadened our therapeutic and service capabilities, and strengthened our ability to support clinical programs from Phase I through Phase III and beyond. Together, these steps reflect not just ambitious growth, but the successful delivery of a complex, multi-stage expansion strategy executed within a single year.

This substantive progress has taken place against a gradually improving backdrop for the biotech sector. As 2025 drew to a close, the industry delivered one of its strongest quarters in recent years, with financing activity picking up and investor confidence returning, particularly for differentiated and later-stage programs. Healthier balance sheets and improving valuations in the biotech sector are an important signal for CROs, as they influence when innovators are ready to initiate new clinical development.

Policy and regulatory developments are also contributing to a more constructive outlook. In the United States, a more stable policy environment and more consistent outlook around drug pricing have helped reduce long-term uncertainty for R&D investment. In the UK, forthcoming changes to clinical trial regulation are expected to streamline approvals and enhance the competitiveness of the research environment. China continues to play a growing role, with regulators strengthening review standards, emphasizing data quality, and accelerating development timelines. These macro trends are creating more supportive conditions for clinical development across major biotech markets, reinforcing the value of CRO partners with proven global delivery capability and deep regulatory understanding.

Looking ahead to 2026, biotech innovators are entering the year with greater clarity and purpose, aligning scientific ambition with focused capital deployment. At the same time, the CRO market is evolving. The emphasis is shifting away from one-size-fits-all models toward partners that offer flexibility, specialist insight, and dependable execution across increasingly complex trials.

It is in this context that we established our Strategic Advisory Board, to guide the next stage of Evestia Clinical’s development and ensure we remain closely aligned with the needs of our clients. Our Strategic Advisory Board brings together senior industry perspectives to challenge our thinking, sharpen our priorities, and help ensure our strategy remains grounded in real-world clinical development as we continue to scale. Our focus on complex therapeutic areas, including neurology, oncology, and rare diseases, reflects where unmet need is greatest and where execution quality can make the most meaningful difference.

Scale alone is no longer the defining capability that companies look for in a CRO partner. Increasingly, it is the ability to manage complexity, adapt as programs evolve, and generate high-quality data efficiently that sets CROs apart. Technology, including AI, will play an important role in this, not as a replacement for expertise, but as a tool to support better trial design, faster decision-making, and more efficient operations.

This is the direction in which Evestia Clinical is deliberately building. We are confident that our combination of specialist focus, integrated global capabilities, and disciplined execution positions us well and differentiates Evestia Clinical in a crowded CRO landscape. We are building a business that combines deep therapeutic knowledge, integrated services, and thoughtful technological innovation. Our aim is to be a trusted partner to biotech innovators, supporting them as they advance important therapies with confidence and rigor.

If 2025 marked the return of momentum for biotech, 2026 offers the opportunity to convert that momentum into meaningful progress. How we seize that opportunity together will shape the next chapter of our journey.