Armenian company Gurus contributes to clinical trials of new medicines and tra

Biotechnology and clinical research remain among Armenia’s least understood yet fastest-growing sectors. Founded in 2019, Gurus now works with some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical and contract research organisations (CROs), contributes to clinical trials of new medicines and trains specialists whose expertise has long been in demand in the sector.

Gurus founder and CEO Vahe Martirosyan spoke about the company’s establishment, its expansion into the international market and its educational programmes.

“When we started, the sector was still emerging in Armenia. Our goal was to become one of the best, and I believe we can now say that we have remained true to that principle,” he said.

According to Martirosyan, when the company was established, its main objective was not to address a particular issue solely within Armenia.

Rather, it sought to fill a professional skills gap, particularly in biotechnology and clinical research. 

“We saw significant opportunities in this field, but the shortage of qualified specialists was also considerable. We began by addressing that sectoral problem, which eventually became an important contribution to Armenia as well. We continue to fill that gap to this day,” he said.

The founder of Gurus noted that even today many people do not fully understand what the company actually does. 

“I think many of our employees’ parents still do not fully understand the nature of our work. Many simply say, ‘They work in IT,’ but our activities go far beyond that,” he said.

 Martirosyan said that every new medicine or medical device undergoes a lengthy process of clinical research before receiving approval for use.

“These studies determine whether a medicine or medical device is safe and effective. Trials are initially conducted on animals, then on healthy volunteers, and subsequently on participants who meet the criteria for the clinical study,” he said.

According to him, participants are divided into groups during the studies, with one receiving the investigational medicine and another receiving a placebo, allowing researchers to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment.

Martirosyan said Gurus does not organise clinical trials, but provides their scientific and analytical components.

“We provide biometric services in three main areas: Clinical Data Management, Statistical Programming and Biostatistics. Data received from hospitals are first collected and cleaned, then aligned with international standards and prepared for analysis. At the final stage, reports are compiled and submitted to regulatory authorities,” he said.

According to Martirosyan, those bodies include the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and relevant authorities in other countries, which use the data to decide whether a medicine or medical device may be approved for use. He said biostatistics is also one of Gurus’s key areas of activity.

“About two and a half years ago, we began establishing our biostatistics department. No university in Armenia offers such a specialisation, so we worked with universities, selected suitable specialists, organised training programmes lasting around two years and trained the first biostatistician. Today, we have around ten biostatisticians and are the only organisation with such a department,” he said.

According to Martirosyan, the company currently works with some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies and CROs.

He said one of the company’s most important development priorities is the implementation of educational programmes. 

From the outset, Gurus believed that instead of recruiting already qualified specialists, it was necessary to create new value and train its own workforce. 

“When you recruit a specialist from another company, you are not really creating new value. The specialist simply moves from one organisation to another. We decided to take a different path by creating new professions, new jobs and training specialists who previously did not exist in Armenia,” he said.

Martirosyan said Gurus Academy was founded in 2019 with that objective, aiming to bridge the gap between universities and the labour market.

“In many cases, young people graduate from university and receive a diploma but are not prepared for their first day at work. In our field, this type of education did not exist in Armenia at all. That is why we created the academy, so that people could gain the knowledge and practical skills required to enter the profession,” he said.

The founder and CEO said that since its first years of operation, Gurus has invested around $700,000 exclusively in educational programmes.

“Until September 2025, all courses were free of charge. During that period, we had around 900 applicants, but we saw that the results did not always meet our expectations. When a course is free, many people simply come to try it without having a clear final goal. We therefore decided to make the programmes fee-paying, and I must say that the results improved significantly,” he said.

According to Martirosyan, participants who achieve the best results at the academy are offered paid internships and may subsequently join the company’s team. He said studying at Gurus Academy is not easy, and the company has never tried to hide that.

“People often say that the first six months with us are very difficult. I completely agree. However, I am convinced that any serious result requires hard work. If you want to have a competitive profession, you must also be prepared for that journey,” he said.

According to Martirosyan, Gurus Academy’s programmes have been continuously improved over the years.

“After every course, we conduct anonymous surveys. We try to make each new course better than the previous one. The lectures, teaching materials, presentation methods and methodology are all revised,” he said. 

Martirosyan said Gurus Academy now operates not only in Yerevan, but also in Gyumri, Vanadzor and Ijevan, with examinations conducted according to the same standards at every branch.

“We have always said that our goal is not to concentrate solely on Yerevan. There are many talented young people in the regions who simply have not had the opportunity to move to the capital or study there. That is why we decided to bring education and employment opportunities directly to them,” he said. 

The first regional branch was opened in Vanadzor, followed by branches in Ijevan and Gyumri. The company’s founder stressed that specialists working in the regions have never been offered different conditions.

 “From the very first day, we stated that there would be no difference in salaries or working conditions. If someone has chosen to live in Vanadzor, Ijevan or Gyumri, that should not limit their professional development,” he said. The company has also recently opened a branch in Tbilisi, expanding its geographical presence.

“We have already begun operating in Tbilisi. At the initial stage, we received around 70 applications, most of them from Georgian citizens. There are, of course, Armenian applicants as well, including from Javakhk, but we do not impose any restrictions or preferences based on nationality. Professional potential is our main priority,” he said. According to Martirosyan, the establishment of the Tbilisi branch will also enable the company to expand its operations in the region and attract new specialists. Speaking about the principles used in selecting employees, Martirosyan said knowledge is important, but personal qualities are equally significant.

“If I had to describe the most important quality in one word, it would be responsibility. A person can learn any profession, but a sense of responsibility is much more difficult to develop,” he said. According to him, Gurus’s corporate culture and ethics are based on discipline. At the initial stage, the human resources team works closely with new employees to help them adapt to the working environment.

“For many, this is their first workplace, and naturally they are not yet familiar with professional culture. That is why, at the beginning, we devote more time to explaining the organisation’s ethics, internal rules and principles of teamwork. If someone entered our office for the first time, they would probably find it difficult to understand who the director is, who heads a department or who leads a team. Our aim is to create an environment in which people can communicate freely and express their opinions,” he said.

Martirosyan said the courses offered at Gurus Academy are not limited to statistical programming. The company also trains specialists in biostatistics, clinical data management and other areas of the sector.

According to him, biotechnology and clinical research are among the world’s most in-demand fields, while the COVID-19 pandemic once again demonstrated the strategic importance of healthcare and pharmaceuticals.

“The pandemic proved to all of us that medicine and pharmaceuticals can be even more important than many other sectors. That is why we believe Armenia should also have highly qualified specialists in this field who can work on international projects,” Martirosyan said.

Addressing the rapid development of artificial intelligence, he said the company frequently receives questions on the subject but does not see an immediate risk of job losses in the sector. 

“I would speak more about automation than artificial intelligence. Automation has always been part of technological development, and such tools are also used in our sector. They help certain processes to be carried out more quickly, but they cannot replace a specialist’s professional judgement,” he said. According to Martirosyan, AI tools are already being used across various company departments, from marketing to project management, but human oversight remains essential in core professional processes.

“The main part of our work is not programming. The most important thing is understanding what needs to be done, what type of analysis should be carried out and how the data should be interpreted. Programming is only one part of that work,” he said. He added that, particularly in projects related to human health, every result is checked by several specialists.

“At Gurus, the same task is performed by two different specialists. They work independently on the same data, and the final results are then compared. If there is a discrepancy, we begin investigating the reason. Since human health is involved, the cost of an error is extremely high,” he said.

Discussing the nature of the work, Martirosyan said company employees often handle information about medicines that have not yet entered the market, making strict confidentiality rules essential.

“We work with highly confidential data. In many cases, we become familiar with the information before the medicine is available on the market. That is why every employee is required to maintain confidentiality. We are not doctors and do not provide medical advice. Our work involves the analysis of scientific data,” he said. 

Reflecting on the company’s development, Martirosyan said achieving success in the international market had not been easy. 

“International companies were cautious about cooperating with Armenia for a long time because of the regional situation. Negotiations over a single contract sometimes lasted a year and a half. Moving through that process required numerous audits and considerable work to meet international standards,” he said. 

Speaking about future plans, Martirosyan said the company intends to expand its activities both in Armenia and abroad.

 “One of our next goals is to establish a branch in southern Armenia. We will also continue developing the Tbilisi office and expanding our international presence,” he said.

 Addressing the company’s long-term vision, he said its main objective is not simply growth, but becoming a trusted partner in the international healthcare sector.

 “We want the name Gurus to be associated with trust in our industry. When partners hear Gurus, we want them to think first of quality, responsibility and reliability. That is our greatest goal, not only in Armenia but throughout the region,” Vahe Martirosyan concluded.