Neuroscience Clinical Trials
Dedicated to the art and science of neuroscience clinical research
With an approval rate for neuroscience therapies that is about half that for other drugs, the distinct challenges of clinical research in this area – accelerating recruitment, measuring highly subjective endpoints, countering placebo effects and demonstrating meaningful clinical efficacy – need to be met with an uncommon blend of scientific depth and elegant problem-solving.
A leading neuroscience CRO with in-depth experience in central nervous system (CNS) clinical studies
Since 2020:
600+
neuroscience studies
>144,500
patients
20,800
sites
Expertise and resilience, when and where it counts
No other area of medical research requires as much precision and inventiveness to achieve meaningful outcomes.
With over 3,500 highly experienced global industry-leading neuroscience experts including licensed clinicians, medical monitors and clinical leads, as well as project management and delivery team members, we are committed to helping you overcome the challenges inherent in neuroscience research, offering you:
- In-depth, industry-leading clinical and therapeutic expertise in neuroscience for scientifically-driven study strategy and protocol design, including rare disease, cell and gene therapy and pediatrics
- Clinical development experts with extensive operational backgrounds who are therapeutically focused on the initial planning of the study and provide continuous steadfast support
- Mobile research nurses and patient concierge services delivered through our Illingworth Research Group to reduce the burden of clinical trial participation and improve patient experience and retention
- Partners at all stages of development and commercialization with expert teams in Medical Affairs, Real World Late Phase and global Commercial Delivery
- Syneos Health is the only fully integrated biopharmaceutical solutions organization with a dedicated in-house CST team consisting of licensed clinical psychologists, neuropsychologists, psychiatrists and other scientific experts.
- Enhanced eligibility review and optimized signal detection help protect patient safety and preserve the reliability of primary, secondary and exploratory endpoints.
Engage with Us
Read our perspectives on the latest trends in neuroscience clinical research.
With dedicated experts and teams focused on areas like psychiatry, Alzheimer's and more, we are structured to meet the complexity of your CNS research with uncommon experience and insight.
Expertise THAT MOVES CNS THERAPIES FORWARD
In a recent 5-year period (2020-2024), helped to develop or commercialize CNS therapies:
89%
of novel drugs approved by the FDA
83%
of products granted marketing authorization by the EMA
Experienced in a wide range of neuroscience disorders including:
Neurology
From recruiting the right patients to ensuring assessments are completed properly by trained experts and that all stakeholders are aligned, we have managed these complexities and more across a range of challenging study design and difficult-to-recruit neurology indications including:
- Cerebrovascular
- Neurodegenerative (including Alzheimer’s disease clinical trials)
- Movement
- Neurodevelopmental
- Neuromuscular
- Seizure
- Sleep
Psychiatry
The success of your psychiatry clinical trial hinges on precision in study design, site selection, subject recruitment, the quality and evaluation of raters and the monitoring and delivery of high-quality data. Our experts in psychiatry research offer deep scientific and clinical experience for studies of:
- Mood (including depression, post-partum depression and major depressive disorder clinical trials)
- Anxiety
- Psychosis (including schizophrenia clinical trials)
- Trauma
- Developmental
- Substance abuse
- Psychotherapeutics (including Psychedelics clinical trials)
Analgesia
We have an established reputation for our work in pain management, including the design, feasibility, execution, analysis and interpretation of studies in a variety of acute, sub-acute and chronic pain disorders, rare indications and pediatric pain, including:
- Chronic lower back pain
- Migraine
- Neuropathic pain
- Osteoarthritis
- Post-surgical pain
Ophthalmology
Ophthalmology clinical trials are highly specialized. Our Ophthalmology team consists of more than 360 ophthalmology-trained staff, including eleven board-certified ophthalmologists in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific who are experts in the field and dedicated to vision research with biosimilar, cell & gene therapy and device therapies in areas that include:
- Cornea
- Eyelid
- Glaucoma
- Inherited retinal
- Ocular inflammation
- Optic nerve
- Refractive
- Retina
Accelerating breakthrough therapies for neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease research
At Syneos Health, we specialize in providing comprehensive CRO services for Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.
Alzheimer's Disease Clinical Trials
Our Alzheimer's disease clinical trials expertise spans the full spectrum of disease progression, from preclinical cognitive decline to severe dementia stages. We design and execute clinical trials that address the unique challenges of Alzheimer's research including patient recruitment, cognitive assessments, biomarker analysis and regulatory compliance.
Alzheimer's clinical reasearch services include:
- Phase I-III clinical trial management
- Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) studies
- Biomarker development and validation
- Cognitive assessment standardization
- Caregiver-focused outcome measures
- Digital health technology integration
Parkinson's Disease Research Solutions
Our Parkinson's disease research solutions address both motor and non-motor symptoms, utilizing advanced assessment tools and specialized expertise in movement disorders. We understand the heterogeneous nature of Parkinson's disease and design trials that capture meaningful clinical outcomes.
Parkinson's clinical research services include:
- Motor symptom evaluation protocols
- Non-motor symptom assessment
- Deep brain stimulation (DBS) studies
- Dyskinesia measurement and monitoring
- Quality of life outcome measures
- Wearable technology integration
View our full range of neuroscience capabilities
Successful global Alzheimer’s clinical trials must overcome disease heterogeneity and balance scientific rigor with operational feasibility. Key considerations include selecting endpoints that are both clinically meaningful and sensitive to neurologic changes, incorporating strategies to manage placebo response and ensuring cultural and linguistic validity of assessments worldwide.
At Syneos Health, we’ve executed studies that use biological and digital biomarkers to maximize signal detection. Our in-house CST team enables enhanced eligibility review and rigorous rater qualification training, which help protect patient safety and preserve endpoint integrity when generating data from subjective scales.
Stem cells offer a promising possibility for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease because, in theory, they could help address dopamine loss. Two recent phase I/phase II studies investigated the safety profiles of both induced pluripotent stem (iPS) and human embryonic stem (hES) cells. Findings from both studies suggest that further research can be conducted safely, as no major adverse events were reported in either trial. Participants also exhibited some improvement in their symptoms but larger studies are needed to confirm these safety and efficacy signals.
Having conducted more than 140 cell and gene therapy studies in the past five years, Syneos Health’s unique cell and gene therapy development engine enables rapid activation of our scientific, medical, regulatory and operational expertise to help customers realize the promise of these innovations.
Within the spectrum of psychoactive drugs, psychotherapeutics, including psychedelics (e.g., psilocybin, LSD) and entactogens (e.g., MDMA, GHB) have shown to be effective in the psychological therapy setting. Mounting clinical evidence along with the rising prevalence of mental illness and public and legislative support have all contributed to the momentum of psychotherapeutic research.
At Syneos Health, we understand the importance of managing the unique challenges that come with studying psychoactive drugs, including durability of effect, patient diversity, rater expectancy and functional unblinding.
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