CRO/Sponsor

A new global Tufts CSDD survey of 387 investigative site professionals reveals broad experience with digital and decentralized trial tools, growing site-driven technology investments, and strong support for remote data collection—while highlighting persistent burdens tied to fragmented systems, training demands, and financial strain.

Emerging applications of AI/ML, automation, and digitization are helping sponsors cut clinical trial start-up times to as little as four weeks, reduce data errors, and enhance patient engagement—demonstrating how tech-enabled processes are reshaping trial efficiency and experience across the study lifecycle.

Leveraging real-world data and AI-driven insights in clinical trial planning can reduce enrollment failures, improve retention, and prevent costly rescue studies by providing a more accurate view of patient populations and site feasibility.

Melissa Hutchens, vice president of research & benchmarking at WCG, and Jimmy Garza, senior director of clinical operations at Bayer, discuss findings from the latest WCG CenterWatch Global Site Relationship Survey, revealing a decline in overall site satisfaction. They explore key drivers behind this trend, including technology usability, communication gaps, and limited site input in protocol design, and share actionable approaches to strengthen sponsor-site partnerships and improve study execution.

As biotechs expand their outsourced clinical operations, adopting a CTMS is becoming essential to ensure CRO oversight, regulatory compliance, and real-time visibility across trials and portfolios.

Ethical and regulatory considerations for safeguarding participants in bispecific antibody clinical trials, and best practices designed to optimize their success.

Capturing insights from clinical research professionals on the key trends and challenges shaping drug development today, from those in clinical trial operations and site relationships, to technology and AI, and the evolving regulatory and policy terrain.

In this episode of the ACT Podcast, we highlight a recent Q&A featuring Ibrahim Kamstrup-Akkaoui, vice president of data systems innovation at Novo Nordisk; and a feature article by Chris Driver, senior director of product management, Patient Suite at IQVIA, in which they both highlight how sponsors are adopting automation to streamline operations.

Gain insight into how listening to site feedback and prioritizing engagement, training, and local patient understanding can drive smoother startups and stronger study outcomes.

The convergence of AI, decentralized technologies, behavioral science, and real-world evidence opens the door to a new era in which the clinical trial industry proactively addresses participation barriers, integrates social determinants of health, and reimagines patient centricity.

Discover how reducing redundancy in feasibility processes and leveraging shared databases can improve collaboration and ease site burden.

In a breakout session at the 2025 SCRS Global Site Solutions Summit, industry leaders from SCRS, QCR, and Syneos Health discussed how sites can prioritize patient empowerment, strengthen community outreach, and collaborate with CROs and sponsors to secure resources for engagement initiatives.

Interviews with biopharma leaders and outsourcing partners reveal emerging trends in clinical trial resourcing models, highlighting a shift away from traditional full-service CRO arrangements toward hybrid strategies that balance in-house expertise, trusted consultants, and selective outsourcing.

As clinical research becomes increasingly digital, integrating rigorous cybersecurity assessments into CRO selection and qualification is essential to safeguard sensitive data and ensure trial integrity.

Modernizing Clinical Trials: A Site-Centered Roadmap for the Future Simplifying startup, empowering sites through networks, and adopting evidence-based site selection frameworks can address enrollment bottlenecks, reduce dropout, and strengthen trial efficiency across the research ecosystem.

In this video interview, Ananth Kadambi, VP of real-world evidence and modeling solutions at Certara, discusses how model-informed drug development can help sponsors predict efficacy and safety outcomes to align shorter trials with FDA expectations for overall survival.

Clinical trial enrollment and retention challenges, coupled with limited site resources, highlight the need for stronger site support, collaboration, and patient-centered trial models.

In this Q&A, Randa Wahid of Indero, and Lyn Mursalo, a freelance clinical research professional, share how sponsors and CROs can build collaborative partnerships, navigate global trial complexities, and apply practical strategies to deliver studies on time and with quality.

New guidance and technology advances are reshaping eClinical systems, positioning them as tools to accelerate enrollment, improve data quality, and reduce site and patient burden.

In this video interview, Adrianne Rivard, senior community development manager at myTomorrows, explains why unified, real-time trial platforms are essential for reducing physician burden and improving patient access to studies.

A new systems-based framework helps sponsors and CROs move beyond prediction to understand why site selection succeeds or fails, enabling targeted interventions that boost recruitment, data quality, and trial efficiency.

In this video interview, Sunny Kumar, MD, partner at Informed Ventures, explains how high upfront costs and limited proof of cost savings are slowing large-scale adoption of decentralized clinical trial models.

In this video interview, Caroline Potts, general manager of sites and patient services at Medical Research Network (MRN), explains why trial inclusivity requires shared responsibility across sponsors, CROs, sites, and advocacy groups.

Bringing some payment activities in-house while outsourcing others can help sponsors optimize clinical trial efficiency, reduce risks, and strengthen site relationships.

In this video interview, Luke Wilson, senior director, biotech, pharma services at Thermo Fisher Scientific, shares key strategies for maintaining operational alignment and compliance in decentralized trials including unified data platforms, aligned SOPs, and clear governance and escalation pathways between sponsors and supply chain partners.