Altasciences: A Steady Guide Helping Drug Development Move With Clarity and Courage

A company driven by purpose, unity, and an early-phase model crafted with human understanding!

Anyone who has spent time in the world of early drug development knows the feeling of juggling many moving parts. Teams carry an idea with hope, only to find themselves explaining the same details to different partners, waiting for updates, and dealing with silos that slow important progress. Work that demands care and urgency often gets tangled in a long chain of steps. This scene has been familiar to researchers for years, and it created a quiet ache across the industry.

This everyday struggle is what caught the attention of Chris Perkin, long before Altasciences grew into the company it is today. He observed how emerging biotech groups moved with energy yet faced a fractured ecosystem, especially in early-phase studies. Each phase felt like starting from scratch. He sensed a need for a partner that understood the full journey and stood with clients through every stride.

This realization guided Chris when he joined Altasciences as CEO in 2010. He saw a space for a company that could carry early-phase work with unity and clarity. A company that reduced pressure instead of adding to it. A company built for teams that needed one reliable source of truth. This idea became the foundation for Altasciences.

Mission With Steady Intent

Chris entered with a simple mission: help sponsors reach major decision milestones faster and with lighter strain. Early-phase work involves countless details, and Altasciences began aligning every part of its process to create one continuous path.

His view was clear. If a sponsor shares information once, it should guide every next step. If early research sits under one roof, communication becomes stronger. If teams understand each other’s workflows, progress becomes steadier. This became the heart of Altasciences.

The mission was never about speed for the sake of speed. It was about speed created by thoughtful coordination.

A Company Rising Through Growth and Learning

Altasciences did not reach its current position overnight. Achievement came through years of expansion, decisions grounded in need, and a desire to provide every essential early-phase service in-house.

The company’s journey accelerated in 2013 with the acquisition of a clinical pharmacology unit in Kansas. This was the moment Altasciences moved from generic drug testing into innovator studies. It marked a shift in purpose and opened the door to new scientific demands.

Five years later, the company welcomed its first preclinical site in Seattle. From that point, expansion took a steady pace. Between 2020 and 2023, Altasciences brought in a CDMO facility in Philadelphia, another clinical unit in Los Angeles, three preclinical locations across Scranton, Columbia, and Sacramento, along with a UK office.

Each addition supported a single aim: offer every early-phase service within one unified system. This steady build allowed Altasciences to grow from a service provider into a true development partner.

The Idea of Proactive Drug Development

One of the central strengths of Altasciences is an approach called Proactive Drug Development. It carries three pillars that reflect the company’s way of working.

The first is Tell Us Once™. Clients share their details a single time, and the information moves across teams, phases, and sites through an internal platform created by Altasciences. This approach eases repetition and helps every team understand the project through the same lens.

The second pillar is A.T.L.A.S., a comprehensive roadmap that offers clear visibility into every stage. With this tool, teams can plan thoroughly, adjust early, and prepare for possible roadblocks long before they appear. Since all services live within the same organization, timelines align and momentum stays steady.

The third pillar is the company structure itself. All teams report to two Co-COOs, which encourages unity and a rhythm of cross-functional collaboration. Communication flows, and work avoids fragmentation.

Together, these pillars allow development timelines to shorten by up to forty percent. The strength comes from coordination, consistency, and shared understanding.

Delivering Impact With a Personal Touch

Drug development is a heavy responsibility. Every study, every dataset, and every decision affects patients waiting for relief. Many teams spend years moving from one vendor to another while trying to hold their program together. This creates delays and frustration.

Altasciences steps in with a full early-phase solution. The company takes a molecule from lead candidate selection to clinical proof of concept with a single, steady partner. Clients no longer handle duplicate administrative steps or carry the fear of information gaps. They work with one team that listens, adapts, and guides their journey.

For sponsors who prefer a single study rather than an entire program, Altasciences offers equal flexibility. The approach stays the same. The personal attention remains the same. The aim stays steady: move forward with clarity.

Facing Industry Challenges With Adaptability

Early-phase development is filled with hurdles. The biggest challenge for years has been coordinating the many moving pieces between preclinical studies, Phase One trials, later studies, and regulatory documentation. As science grows more advanced, molecules become more complex, and the landscape evolves rapidly.

Altasciences responds by adjusting to client needs. The company continues adding talent, expanding capabilities, and strengthening expertise. This adaptability helps sponsors manage complexity without losing direction.

A Faster Path to Clinical Proof of Concept

By bringing all services into one operational framework, Altasciences reduces delays that often slow drug development. Teams share insights in real time, which helps guide each next step. Instead of a disconnected sequence, programs flow as one journey.

This alignment helps sponsors reach clinical proof of concept sooner. It also removes the usual friction created by separate vendors, new contacts, or new systems.

Innovation Through Listening

Chris approaches innovation through a simple idea. Innovation does not always require something brand new. Sometimes it means doing something differently.

Before building Altasciences into its current form, he spent years listening to sponsors describe their pain points. Their experiences guided the company’s improvements. Their concerns influenced the tools and systems Altasciences created.

The company stays committed to knowledge sharing through The Altascientist, a scientific journal with nearly fifty published issues, along with eBooks, audiobooks, webinars, and podcasts. These resources help teams across the industry explore complex topics with clearer understanding.

A Competitive Edge Built on True Integration

One of Altasciences’ strongest advantages is the way it treats early-phase work as one continuous process. Many organizations rely on handoffs between vendors or scattered teams. Those transitions often lead to delays.

Altasciences moves differently. Teams align timelines, plan across functions, and carry insights from one stage into the next. The approach feels like walking side by side rather than passing tasks from point to point.

The Future of the Industry

The global health community continues seeking ways to shorten development cycles and offer life-changing therapies faster. Artificial intelligence is beginning to support this effort through administrative assistance, transparency, data integration, and faster study report formatting.

For later-stage trials that involve large outpatient populations, AI-driven virtual tools help strengthen recruitment and monitoring. Early-phase work benefits from sophisticated electronic data collection, which improves accuracy and provides quick access to information.

Altasciences uses fully vetted AI tools to enhance efficiency and clarity, allowing teams to focus on scientific decision-making without unnecessary delays.

Guidance for Emerging Entrepreneurs

Chris offers clear advice for young entrepreneurs. Challenge old systems. Take bold steps. Choose paths that may appear unusual at first. Change can feel slow in industries tied to deep scientific processes, yet fresh ideas often carry progress forward.

When Chris began shaping his vision for Altasciences, the approach was unfamiliar to many in the field. Even so, passion and steady commitment helped the company grow into what it is today. He encourages others to follow their ideas with courage. A strong plan and consistent effort will draw the right people toward the vision.