Your Partner in Delivering High-Quality, Signal-Driven Psychiatry Trials
Global expertise in psychiatry research
Recognition of the importance of mental health continues to grow across the medical community and society, yet the unmet need for effective psychiatric treatments remains significant. Mental health and substance use disorders affect approximately 13% of the global population and contribute to more than 14% of deaths worldwide, underscoring the urgency for innovative and reliable therapeutic solutions.
Partnering with the PPD™ clinical research business of Thermo Fisher Scientific enables sponsors to confidently navigate the unique scientific and operational challenges of psychiatry trials—while protecting signal detection, data integrity and study timelines.
Why PPD in psychiatry
Protect the signal: Industry-leading placebo-response management, rater oversight, and scientific surveillance.
Access the right patients: Global psychiatry site networks and proprietary patient access at scale.
Deliver with confidence: Integrated, end-to-end delivery combining scientific expertise, digital innovation, and operational excellence.
Proven psychiatry trial experience
Our psychiatry leadership brings more than 180 collective years of clinical research experience, supported by a culture of stability, engagement, and industry-leading retention. This continuity translates directly into stronger sponsor partnerships and more predictable trial delivery.
We bring end-to-end, molecule-to-market capabilities across the psychiatry spectrum, supported by deep scientific expertise and real-world evidence generation through PPD™ Evidera™ Real-World Data & Scientific Solutions. Recent experience includes more than 40 peer-reviewed publications and the development of an FDA-qualified measure for depression, demonstrating our leadership in patient-centered outcomes research.
Our teams have designed and delivered clinical trials across psychiatric domains involving:
- Behavior
- Cognition
- Mood and affective disorders
- Perception and psychosis
- Maladaptive and substance-use behaviors
We also provide specialized expertise through our Rare Disease and Pediatric Center of Excellence, supporting complex childhood psychiatric disorders such as autism spectrum disorder and Rett syndrome.
Past 5 years of global psychiatry trial experience
Psychiatry studies
13 Ph I, 13 Ph II, 3 Ph III, 2 non-interventional and 6 not phase specific
Patients
Sites worldwide
Project and clinical leads with psychiatry experience
Supported by 6 global psychiatrists (NA, EMEA, APAC)
Indications include:
- Depression
- Schizophrenia
- ADHD with mood symptoms
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Autism spectrum disorder
- Opioid-related and substance-use disorders
Your partner in successful psychiatry trial delivery
Effective placebo response management
Placebo response remains one of the greatest risks to signal detection in psychiatry. Our integrated placebo-response management framework combines:
- Protocol optimization
- Data-driven site and patient selection
- Centralized scientific surveillance
- Advanced statistical monitoring (including Bayesian and multivariate methods)
This proactive approach reduces variability, identifies emerging risks early and strengthens confidence in study outcomes.
Leading site and patient access
We apply a multi-pronged site strategy that balances speed, quality and data consistency:
with Trialmed psychiatry sites (award-winning performance)
PPD Select psychiatry partnerships
commercial networks representing about 1,650 sites
health care organizations across 30 countries
Psychiatry experience capabilities
A reduced and strategically selected site footprint minimizes rater variability while preserving recruitment velocity. Our psychiatry-experienced site staff are trained to support complex patient interactions and protocol adherence.
We streamline patient recruitment and retention by leveraging proprietary patient access at scale:
- 1.2 million pre-identified individuals in our psychiatry patient registry
- 1.8 million members across more than 100 mental health and substance-use communities via HealthUnlocked
- Dedicated patient recruitment and retention leads to manage vendors, advocacy groups, and performance metrics
Digital outreach, local advertising, referral pathways and patient advocacy collaborations are integrated to accelerate enrollment while protecting data quality.
A reduced and carefully selected site footprint accelerates enrollment and directly improves data consistency and signal quality by minimizing rater variability.
Reducing patient burden through digital solutions
Our digital and decentralized solutions support retention and adherence in vulnerable populations by offering:
- Hybrid and decentralized trial designs
- eConsent and eCOA solutions
- Smart medication packaging
- Virtual site models and centralized coordination
- AI-enabled pre-screening and EHR integration (Smart Screen™)
Learn how our digital and decentralized solutions increase patient retention by lowering the burden for patients and their caregivers.
Study data integrity and scientific surveillance
Our scientific surveillance approach combines advanced analytics with clinical insight to protect data integrity and trial outcomes. This approach enables earlier detection of risks, fewer surprises late in the trial and greater confidence in study outcomes.
Custom-fit scientific surveillance tools in psychiatry and neuroscience trials translate into action at the site and study levels. These tools include:
- Bayesian methods for predicting risks and detecting inflated placebo responses
- Multivariate methods coupled with clinical insights for detecting systematic irregularities, with appropriate multiplicity adjustments, across and between:
- Clinical outcome assessments
- Patient-reported outcomes
- Relevant safety outcomes including laboratory assessments, adverse events and vitals
Our advanced analytics and scientific surveillance capabilities translate complex data into actionable insights at the site and study levels. These include:
- Detection of inflated placebo responses
- Identification of systematic irregularities across COAs, PROs and safety data
- Centralized statistical monitoring with clinical context
- Fraud detection and site risk mitigation
Controlled substances and Schedule I capabilities
We offer global operational readiness for Schedule I and controlled substances, including:
DEA-registered manufacturing and storage facilities
Licensed therapists and post-dose psychotherapy support
Secure storage, distribution and compliance reporting
Global depot coverage across more than 40 countries (license-dependent)
Integrated delivery
Through Accelerator™ Drug Development, we provide seamless integration across clinical research organization (CRO) and contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) services—reducing handoffs, minimizing risk and accelerating timelines. Real-time data integration enables faster decision-making while accommodating evolving program needs.
Let’s advance psychiatry research together
As you plan or advance your psychiatry clinical programs, our experts are ready to help you reduce risk, strengthen signal detection, and accelerate confident decision-making. Connect with us to learn more.