Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, September 15, 2026
The Braff Group has announced that its client, Community Clinical Research (CCR) of Austin, Texas, has joined PhaseWell Research, expanding PhaseWell’s capabilities in clinical research and establishing a foundation for its inpatient neuropsychiatric research operations. The Braff Group served as the exclusive financial adviser to Community Clinical Research in the transaction. The partnership combines CCR’s established experience in central nervous system (CNS) clinical studies with PhaseWell’s growing multisite clinical research network. The transaction is expected to strengthen capabilities for conducting complex studies requiring inpatient monitoring while supporting PhaseWell’s broader mission of connecting more communities and patients with clinical trial opportunities.
Partnership Expands CNS Clinical Research Capabilities
Community Clinical Research is an experienced inpatient-capable CNS clinical research site with established operations in Austin. The organization has developed extensive relationships across the local patient and healthcare community through collaborations with healthcare providers, group homes, advocacy organizations and clinical institutions. These relationships provide an important foundation for identifying and enrolling appropriate participants into clinical research programs.
CCR’s research team has expertise across both inpatient and outpatient CNS studies, enabling investigators to match different study designs and levels of patient acuity with appropriate clinical environments. This capability is particularly relevant for CNS and neuropsychiatric drug-development programs, where some studies can require extended observation, specialized clinical expertise and continuous monitoring. The research site also maintains a 25-year proprietary participant database containing more than 1,200 previous participants, together with a referral network spanning more than 150 community organizations. According to the announcement, CCR has developed relationships with major contract research organizations and has consistently achieved enrollment targets across nearly all protocols it has conducted.
PhaseWell Builds Inpatient Neuropsychiatric Research Platform
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The addition of Community Clinical Research provides PhaseWell Research with specialized inpatient neuropsychiatric research infrastructure. A major component of CCR’s operations is its purpose-built, 24/7-staffed, 20-bed psychiatric research unit, which can support studies requiring intensive patient observation and inpatient execution. This infrastructure could be particularly important for complex CNS clinical trials, where study protocols may involve close safety monitoring, controlled treatment administration, behavioral assessments or other procedures that are difficult to perform entirely in an outpatient environment. By incorporating CCR into its research network, PhaseWell gains access to established psychiatric research expertise and operational capabilities designed specifically for these demanding clinical programs.
PhaseWell Research, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, is a multisite clinical research organization focused on increasing participation in clinical trials by offering research opportunities through community-based sites and practices across the United States. PhaseWell is also a portfolio company of Shore Capital Partners, positioning the organization within a broader investment strategy focused on healthcare growth.
Transaction Supports Broader Clinical Trial Access
The partnership reflects continued consolidation and network expansion across the clinical research site sector, as organizations seek to improve patient recruitment, geographic reach and operational capabilities. For pharmaceutical and biotechnology sponsors, experienced clinical trial sites can play a critical role in meeting recruitment targets and executing studies according to regulatory and protocol requirements. Community-based research networks may also help address one of the industry’s persistent challenges: connecting appropriate patients with clinical trials. By combining PhaseWell’s multisite strategy with CCR’s established community relationships and CNS expertise, the partnership creates additional infrastructure for studies involving neurological and psychiatric conditions.
For The Braff Group, the transaction adds to its experience advising healthcare and outsourced pharmaceutical-services organizations. Founded in 1998, the firm specializes in healthcare mergers and acquisitions and has completed nearly 400 transactions across areas including behavioral health, healthcare staffing, outsourced pharmaceutical services, specialty pharmacy and other healthcare segments. The transaction ultimately strengthens PhaseWell’s ability to conduct inpatient and outpatient CNS clinical research while providing CCR with access to a broader multisite research organization. As pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies continue developing treatments for complex neurological and psychiatric diseases, specialized research infrastructure, reliable participant recruitment and experienced clinical teams remain essential components of successful drug-development programs.
Source: The Braff Group press release
