In today’s ACT Brief, we examine how legacy workflows pull community clinics away from patient care, why medical writing capacity depends on training rather than technology, and how an antiviral aims to prevent COVID-19 after exposure
News|Podcasts|October 8, 2026
ACT Brief: AI and Protocol Design, Site Training Readiness, and GLP-1 Unmet Needs
Author(s)Andy Studna, Senior Editor
In today's ACT Brief, we examine how AI surfaces design flaws before enrollment, why site training readiness depends on learning science, and the priorities defining next-generation weight-loss therapies.
This is the Applied Clinical Trials Brief—your fast track to the latest insights shaping clinical operations and drug development.
- In a
new Q&A , Claire Riches, VP of clinical solutions at Citeline, discusses how AI is transforming endpoint selection and protocol pressure-testing before enrollment begins. She explains what data inputs matter most for realistic enrollment planning and argues that AI tools are more accessible than most sponsors assume, making the competitive risk of waiting higher than the operational risk of starting. - In his
October column , Brian McGowan examined why site training effectiveness depends on readiness at first-patient-in rather than training completion metrics or content volume. Site training's real test happens weeks later when the first participant arrives, requiring learning-science design principles around performance focus, cognitive load reduction, progressive sequencing, and spaced retrieval practice. - In a
new Q&A from Pharmaceutical Executive , Dr. Bo Liang, chief medical officer at CORXEL, identified four unmet needs defining next-generation obesity therapies: reducing gastrointestinal side effects, improving convenience and adherence, preserving lean muscle mass, and preventing weight regain after treatment stops. He also described how GLP-1 therapies represent a broader chronic disease platform with demonstrated benefits across cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic outcomes, not merely weight-loss medications.
That's all for today's ACT Brief. Join us tomorrow for more updates shaping clinical operations and drug development. Thanks for listening.
Related to this article
In today’s ACT Brief, we examine how cost barriers and site infrastructure limit participation in community trials, why endpoints should reflect what patients actually experience, and how the FDA expanded a prostate cancer combination to an earlier treatment setting.
In today’s ACT Brief, we examine how sites can avoid both fear-driven and overly aggressive AI adoption, why community-based research needs sustained financial investment, and why patient access matters more than organizational size.
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.
In today’s ACT Brief, we examine who decides what trials measure, how designing for human thinking improves site execution, and how the FDA extended an immunotherapy to a new bladder cancer population.
In Episode 3 of The Human Side of Clinical Trials, hosts Brian S. McGowan, PhD, FACEHP, chief learning officer and co-founder of ArcheMedX, Inc., and Kelly Ritch, chief operating officer of ArcheMedX, Inc., speak with Jason Riis, PhD, CEO and chief behavioral scientist at Behavioralize, about why a well-written protocol doesn’t always translate into consistent execution, and how designing for the way people actually think and learn can reduce site burden and the need for costly unlearning.
In today’s ACT Brief, we examine what it will take to scale EHR-to-EDC connections for real-time trials, how the FDA is reimagining rare disease drug development, and why oncology real-world evidence still faces persistent data barriers.
In this video interview, Kent Thoelke, CEO of Paradigm Health, outlines why anti-kickback guidance and modern EHR-integrated trial matching technology must work in tandem to reach representative patient populations at the community level.
Trending on Applied Clinical Trials Online
1
How Much of the Community Participation Gap Is About Infrastructure, Not Willingness?
2
Closing the Medical Writing Capacity Gap: Why Training Beats Technology
3
Measuring What Matters: Realigning Clinical Endpoints with Patient Reality
4
Clinical Trials Do Not Have a Data Problem, They Have a Decision-Readiness Problem
5