Patient Participation

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.

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.

Outdated payment methods like prepaid cards and checks create administrative burden and retention friction, but modern flexible payment platforms with multiple payout options and global reach can improve participant experience without adding compliance complexity.

From planning one Phase III trial at a time to digital standardization on repeat.

Patient Engagement Strategies in Anti-Obesity Medication Clinical Trials: Addressing Drop Out Rate and Improving Retention

In this Q&A, Del Smith, PhD, CEO and co-founder of Acclinate, discusses how structural and relational barriers continue to limit participation from underrepresented communities in clinical trials—and what it takes to build the kind of trust that translates into lasting research impact.

Despite political headwinds, life sciences leaders are holding their ground on DEI, but translating organizational commitment into representative enrollment requires structural changes to protocol design, site selection, and community engagement that most of the industry has yet to fully make.

Participant adherence depends on readiness—a combination of knowledge, calibrated confidence, and real-world mastery—not simply on digital tools, reminders, or education, which are forms of exposure rather than preparation for sustained performance.

Webinar Date/Time: Thursday, June 4th, 2026 at 11am EDT|8am PDT|4pm BST|5pm CEST

Limited evidence surrounds direct-to-patient clinical trial site models, despite growing literature showing that decentralized approaches can improve patient access, enrollment performance, and operational efficiency while reducing participant burden.

Webinar Date/Time: Thu, May 28, 2026 1:00 PM EDT

Zentails announced the first dosage of Azenosertib administered in its phase III Aspenova trial to test azenosertib vs chemotherapy in Cyclin E1-positive platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.

Early integration of clinical, operational, and patient-level insights during trial development can help close the gap between evidence generation and commercial performance, improving alignment between product value and real-world adoption.

Payment experience—including timeliness, transparency, and consistency—is emerging as a key operational factor influencing site financial stability, working relationships with sponsors and CROs, and overall clinical trial execution.

Behavioral science reveals how recruitment failures, site disengagement, and underrepresentation in clinical trials are rooted in early design decisions, and what sponsors can do to address them before they become costly problems.

In this Q&A, Krishna Cheriath, VP and head of clinical research digital data and AI at Thermo Fisher Scientific, examines how AI is reshaping clinical operations—from case intake and trial design to site burden reduction and the emerging reality of agentic AI in the workforce.

Pharma modernization initiatives stall not from lack of ambition but from expanding governance layers that distance leadership from execution, slowing decision velocity and delaying the systems integration that drives competitive advantage.

In part 3 of this three-part series, behavioral science reveals that clinical trial diversity cannot be achieved through last-minute recruitment efforts, but requires designing protocols, sites, and enrollment strategies around the real barriers and needs of underrepresented communities from the outset.

In this video interview, Krishna Cheriath, vice president and head of clinical research digital data and AI at Thermo Fisher Scientific, maps the highest-impact opportunities for AI across the trial lifecycle—from smarter protocol design and enrollment matching to data collection, cycle time compression, and the emerging potential of synthetic data in rare disease.

The April issue of Applied Clinical Trials delves into the priorities driving patient engagement approaches today from the technology, regulatory, and site operations fronts.

In this video interview, Krishna Cheriath, vice president and head of clinical research digital data and AI at Thermo Fisher Scientific, argues that effective patient-centered AI must go beyond direct-to-patient tools to address social determinants of health and reduce the administrative burden on sites so that investigators can focus predominantly on the patient.

In part 2 of this three-part series, behavioral science and service design reveal how poor experiences with confusing information, unreliable technology, and inefficient processes drive site disengagement and patient dropout, and how measuring these experiences early enables practical, evidence-based solutions.

Vaccine developers can reduce participant burden and extend follow-up timelines by strategically combining traditional site visits with real-world data collection, but the choice depends on follow-up duration, data requirements, and the patient population being studied.