SMERUD MEDICAL RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL AS

Their core work

Smerud Medical Research International is a Norwegian contract research organization (CRO) specializing in clinical trial management for rare and complex diseases. They provide clinical development expertise to pharmaceutical and biotech companies running pivotal trials across Europe, handling trial design, regulatory strategy, and multi-site coordination. Their H2020 participation spans ophthalmology (Stargardt's disease), pulmonology (cystic fibrosis), and psychiatry (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder), indicating broad therapeutic area coverage rather than narrow disease specialization. As a private SME, they serve as the operational backbone that turns promising drug candidates into clinical evidence.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Smerud began their H2020 journey with traditional interventional clinical trials — a regenerative therapy for Stargardt's disease (2017) and a pivotal Phase IIb inhaled drug trial for cystic fibrosis (2018). By 2021, their focus shifted toward real-world evidence and data-driven precision medicine, joining REALMENT to integrate biobank, registry, and eHealth data with clinical trial approaches in psychiatry. This evolution mirrors the broader pharmaceutical industry trend from classic randomized trials toward hybrid designs that combine clinical and real-world data sources.

Smerud is moving from pure clinical trial operations toward data-intensive precision medicine approaches, making them increasingly relevant for projects combining clinical evidence with digital health and registry data.

How they like to work

Smerud operates exclusively as a participant, never as coordinator — consistent with their CRO role where they provide clinical trial services to sponsor-led projects. With 30 unique partners across 12 countries from just 3 projects, they work in medium-to-large consortia and connect with a wide range of academic, pharma, and biotech organizations. This pattern suggests they are a trusted service partner brought in for execution capability rather than a research agenda-setter.

Despite only 3 projects, Smerud has built a broad network of 30 partners across 12 countries, reflecting their role in large multi-site clinical consortia that span much of Europe. Their Norway base positions them as a Nordic entry point for pan-European clinical trial coordination.

What sets them apart

Smerud brings dedicated CRO expertise to EU-funded research consortia — a relatively uncommon profile among H2020 participants, where most clinical work is handled by academic medical centers. Their willingness to work across very different therapeutic areas (ophthalmology, pulmonology, psychiatry) means they offer versatile clinical trial infrastructure rather than disease-specific knowledge. For consortium builders, they solve a common problem: who will actually run the clinical trial to professional pharmaceutical-industry standards within an academic-led project.

Highlights from their portfolio

• OligoGpivotalCF
  Largest single project at EUR 2.5M — a pivotal Phase IIb clinical trial for cystic fibrosis, indicating Smerud handled substantial trial management responsibilities.
• REALMENT
  Marks a strategic pivot toward real-world evidence and precision psychiatry, integrating biobanks, registries, and eHealth data across multiple mental health conditions.