In today’s ACT Brief, we examine how AI is moving into continuous clinical operating models, how trust is built into oncology real-world evidence, and how the FDA approved a self-administered option for thyroid eye disease.
News|Podcasts|March 17, 2026
ACT Brief: Academic Trial Infrastructure, Vaccine Engagement Strategies, and Workflow Orchestration
Author(s)Andy Studna, Senior Editor
In today's ACT Brief, we examine the technology infrastructure gap facing investigator-initiated trials, how transparency and community engagement drive vaccine adoption, and why workflow orchestration—not just digitization—delivers operational value in clinical research.
This is the Applied Clinical Trials Brief—your fast track to the latest insights shaping clinical operations and drug development.
- A new contributed
article highlighted the structural technology gap in investigator-initiated trials operating under the same regulatory requirements as industry-sponsored studies but relying on fragmented consumer-grade tools. While REDCap democratized data capture, investigators still manage documents in Google Drive, track enrollment in Excel, and juggle disconnected systems never designed for regulated research, despite FDA compliance demands equivalent to pharmaceutical sponsors. Analysis from the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development revealed that vaccines achieving rapid uptake shared common engagement practices—transparency in clinical evidence, community partnerships, and representative trial populations—yet these were implemented ad hoc rather than systematically. Moving from episodic to enterprise-level patient-engagement strategies embedded in development planning can convert vaccine hesitancy from a structural barrier into a manageable operational challenge.- Finally, another new contributed
piece examined how workflow orchestration addresses the fragmentation created by expanding digital tool adoption. Rather than adding more platforms, sponsors should treat the protocol as the operating system, making workflows interoperable and auditable from day one. This approach enables AI integration with clear data provenance, supports decentralized trials, and respects site investments in their own digital infrastructure.
That's all for today's ACT Brief. Join us tomorrow for more updates shaping clinical operations and drug development. Thanks for listening.
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