
From real-time evidence generation to federated AI to site-level data integration, ACT spoke with seven experts at DIA 2026 on the trends and challenges defining clinical trial operations today.

From real-time evidence generation to federated AI to site-level data integration, ACT spoke with seven experts at DIA 2026 on the trends and challenges defining clinical trial operations today.

Discover how Quest Diagnostics puts its vast database of lab results to work and leverages patient and physician credibility to efficiently and effectively connect the best-fit patients to the clinical trials that will benefit from their participation.

Discover how Quest Diagnostics’ comprehensive lab data can elevate your clinical trials. Our latest white paper, "6 Ways Lab Data Can Improve Clinical Trials," explores the power of real-world data at every stage of the trial process.

As the clinical research landscape evolves, decentralized clinical trials (DCTs) have emerged as a foundational competency, enabling broader patient participation, increasing trial efficiency, and driving more inclusive, real-world data collection. However, the successful execution of DCTs requires more than just innovative technology—it demands a comprehensive strategy that addresses the unique challenges of decentralization.

Download the case study and learn how Quest Diagnostics and PatientsLikeMe helped accelerate recruitment and enrollment for a struggling study.

In today's ACT Brief, we examine integrating site and sponsor data systems, a high-profile trial retraction over integrity concerns, and a new first-line breast cancer treatment.

A Phase III trial linking morning administration of immunochemotherapy to dramatically better survival outcomes in non-small cell lung cancer has been pulled over concerns about data integrity, protocol inconsistencies, and unexpected findings.

In this video interview following the 2026 DIA Global Annual Meeting, Jonathan Andrus, co-CEO of CRIO, explains why integrating site-level data systems with sponsor oversight has remained so difficult, what a central eSource model requires to work for all stakeholders, and why the industry needs to stop waiting for perfection and start taking the step.

In today's ACT Brief, we examine regulatory uncertainty and 2026 breakthroughs shaping clinical research, reimagining CRO contracting models for financial transparency, and Eli Lilly's acquisition strategy.

In this video interview, Marwan Fathallah, president and CEO of DIA Global, makes the case for ecosystem-wide leadership in a time of regulatory uncertainty and highlights the breakthroughs in obesity, healthcare AI, and cell and gene therapy that have most excited him in 2026.

Traditional CRO contracting models create misalignment between effort, progress, and financial outcomes, driving revenue recognition risk and margin volatility, but shared performance contracts linking costs to deliverables can improve transparency and accountability.

In today's ACT Brief, we examine HHS coordinated effort to restore US clinical research leadership, two decades of rising protocol complexity, and data architecture frameworks for AI sustainability.

A coordinated department-wide initiative combines FDA regulatory reforms, NIH investments, and new agency programs to reduce development timelines and reverse a growing shift of clinical research overseas.

Protocol complexity in clinical trials has risen for two decades, but the trend has not been comprehensively quantified by phase and sponsor across the full 2004–2025 window on ClinicalTrials.gov.

In today's ACT Brief, we examine a major CRO-tech partnership scaling agentic AI, operational challenges sites face with decentralized trials, and AI-driven CNS drug discovery collaboration.

In this video interview from the 2026 DIA Global Annual Meeting, Nick Scott of Biogen and Samantha Hadfield of Thermo Fisher Scientific, discuss where mixed outsourcing models deliver the greatest gains in efficiency and agility, and why a deliberate, partnership-first approach is what separates successful implementations from ones that struggle.

In this video interview from the 2026 DIA Global Annual Meeting, Joan Chambers, independent senior consultant at Tufts CSDD, examines the operational challenges sites face when implementing DCT components and makes the case that the industry is still in a learning phase—one the data will ultimately need to guide.

The enterprise-wide partnership brings Microsoft 365 Copilot, Azure, and Fabric infrastructure to ICON's Orbis platform, supporting AI deployment across study design, site operations, and regulatory workflows.

In today's ACT Brief, we examine mixed FSP models as strategic agility tools, key themes from the 2026 DIA Global Annual Meeting, and federated AI expanding oncology research.

In this video interview from the 2026 DIA Global Annual Meeting, Angie Maurer, VP of AI-enabled clinical development at Medable, describes how digitizing protocols transforms manual amendment workflows into automated, AI-orchestrated processes—and why structured data from the start is the foundation the FDA's continuous review model depends on.

In this video interview from the 2026 DIA Global Annual Meeting, Stacy Hurt, chief patient officer at Parexel, explains how federated AI is expanding what's possible in oncology research, why the patient voice gets lost earliest in development, and why someone in every organization needs to explicitly own patient needs from the very beginning.

In today's ACT Brief, we examine real-time evidence generation priorities, automating protocol digitization, and fit-for-purpose decentralized trial deployment.

In this video interview, Marwan Fathallah, president and CEO of DIA Global, shares the key trends and themes shaping this year's meeting—from AI and regulatory uncertainty to the exploding innovation coming out of the global biotech and medtech ecosystem.

Beyond a compliance checkbox, rigorous UAT planning and execution can ensure eCOA platforms function reliably across real-world trial workflows, from study design through post-launch changes.

In this video interview from the 2026 DIA Global Annual Meeting, Nick Scott of Biogen and Samantha Hadfield of Thermo Fisher Scientific, explain why mixed FSP models are becoming a strategic tool for sponsors seeking greater agility and how geography and portfolio structure shape the decision.

In this video interview from the 2026 DIA Global Annual Meeting, Joan Chambers, independent senior consultant at Tufts CSDD, explains how the flexibility and accessibility of decentralized trial modalities are expanding patient reach—and why fit-for-purpose deployment is key to making them work.

A CFO’s perspective on capital allocation, balancing risk and opportunity, and structuring successful China-based clinical programs.

In this video interview from the 2026 DIA Global Annual Meeting, Angie Maurer, VP of AI-enabled clinical development at Medable, explains the three structural barriers that kept protocol digitization out of reach and why the convergence of LLMs, industry standards, and validated environments has finally changed the equation.

In this video interview from the 2026 DIA Global Annual Meeting, Kevin Bugin, head of global regulatory policy and intelligence at Amgen and executive sponsor of TransCelerate's Embedded Pragmatic Trials initiative, reframes the FDA's continuous review expectations around real-time evidence generation and explains why quality by design—not data cleanup—is what regulators are now demanding.

How sponsors can leverage both the EU Clinical Trials Regulation and UK’s reformed framework to achieve cost efficiencies, faster timelines, and stronger regulatory positioning.