Atheris is a boutique medical affairs and communications consulting firm with an emphasis on developing close relationships with clients, often embedding within the companies they service to deliver a range of medical communications services. As part of its three-tiered approach, Atheris provides traditional medical affairs services with tailored overall strategy and tactical execution based on scientific story-telling. It’s their third tier, an in-house resourcing model, that makes Atheris stand out.

As part of its three-tiered approach, Atheris provides traditional medical affairs services with tailored overall strategy and tactical execution based on scientific story-telling.

“This differentiates us, especially for smaller biotech companies who are in the early stages of clinical development and may need support to grow their Medical Affairs teams,” said Tanya Miladinović, Ph.D., VP of Scientific Strategy.

A seasoned team

Atheris’ leadership team has deep expertise in medical affairs, with decades of in-house experience on both the agency and client side, and a broad network of industry leaders and consultants to support agile contract work. 

President Azhar Rana, M.D., previously Executive Director of Medical Affairs for AstraZeneca Global and Director of Clinical, Regulatory and Medical Affairs for Novo Nordisk, Canada, launched Atheris in 2022 with medical communications veterans Adam Hulley and Kosta Drezgić.

The trio formerly worked together at Integrated Medhealth Communication, where they ran its North American operations. Dr. Miladinović recently joined the executive team, bringing a background that spans health research, healthcare and statistics education, biotech consulting, and leadership roles within a global digital medical communications company.

We strive to build established relationships with our clients and aim to contribute to a brighter future in the health care industry. Ultimately, though, Atheris grew from a dream for a group of friends to build something positive and long-lasting together.

The founders named the company in honor of Luka Petrašinović, a friend and family member who founded a small business called Atheris Watch Company, before he passed away in 2020. “We hope to do his memory justice by creating great work, and ultimately helping other people, something he was well-known for,” said Dr. Rana. 

“We strive to build established relationships with our clients and aim to contribute to a brighter future in the health care industry,” added Dr. Rana. “Ultimately, though, Atheris grew from a dream for a group of friends to build something positive and long-lasting together.”

Hands-on approach

Team members take pride in their unique offering of in-house resourcing, in which they embed experienced Medical Affairs personnel to work alongside the organization often leading workshops and supporting recruitment for internal teams. Roles within their clients’ teams include Chief Medical Officer, Global Head of Medical Affairs, Medical Director, Head of Publications, Scientific Lead, and Project Lead. 

Recent actions include brand strategy workshops for small- and mid-size biopharma clients, KOL mapping and engagement planning, internal training programs, peer-to-peer speaker programs, consensus papers, publication planning, and end-to-end manuscript development. 

A true scientific partner

Atheris has grown to 18 core members and taps into an extensive network of designers, research and data scientists, practitioners, medical writers, editors, marketing experts and other specialists, with experience ranging from neuroscience to oncology, including rare and chronic disease, gene therapy and plant-based medicine.

We are strong analytical thinkers and it’s always fun to be pushed and challenged by innovative clients.

The team is largely located in North America, enabling it to work efficiently with a growing base of biopharma clients in the Nordic countries and throughout Europe. “We are committed to establishing trusting relationships with our clients as a true scientific partner,” said Dr. Miladinović. “We use the time difference to our advantage, picking things up when clients log off for the day and having it in their inbox when they wake up.”

“We are strong analytical thinkers and it’s always fun to be pushed and challenged by innovative clients,” added Dr. Rana. “Our favorite clients are those that are open minded and interested in exploring new ways of driving success.”

For more information, please visit: atherisgroup.com