ACT Brief: AI Moves Into Implementation, Digital Measurement Adoption Accelerates, and Global Trial Competition Intensifies

This is the Applied Clinical Trials Brief—your fast track to the latest insights shaping clinical operations and drug development.

• In a video interview with ACT, Angela Zubel of Debiopharm said 2026 is shaping up to be an implementation year as companies move beyond pilot programs and begin embedding AI and digital tools into routine drug development workflows. She noted that solutions once confined to experimentation are increasingly becoming part of daily operations across clinical development. Zubel added that broader deployment will mark a shift from testing AI’s potential to relying on it in execution.
• The Digital Medicine Society has launched the sDHT Adoption Navigator, a centralized platform designed to help sponsors integrate sensor-based digital health technologies into clinical trials. Developed with FDA funding, the resource consolidates regulatory guidance, validation standards, and implementation best practices into a single location. The platform also includes an AI-enabled research assistant to help teams identify relevant regulatory and scientific materials more efficiently.
• In a new Pharm Exec Q&A, Phesi CEO Gen Li said oncology remains the most studied area globally, while competition for investigator sites continues to intensify. He noted that data-driven site selection is helping sponsors identify high-performing but underutilized locations beyond the most established research centers. Li added that China is emerging as the fastest-growing clinical trial market, reflecting ongoing expansion in global development capacity.

That’s all for today’s ACT Brief. Join us tomorrow for more updates shaping clinical operations and drug development. Thanks for listening.