ACT Brief: AI Scales Trial Design, ESG Becomes a Readiness Test, and Sites Push Back on Payment Practices

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

• Bristol Myers Squibb has entered a strategic collaboration with Evinova to deploy the AI-native Study Designer platform across its global clinical development portfolio. The partnership centers on Evinova’s Cost Optimizer module, which uses agentic AI and USDM-aligned data flows to support insight-driven protocol decisions, identify productivity opportunities, and accelerate timelines. Both companies positioned the collaboration as a response to long-standing inefficiencies in trial design, with an emphasis on scalable and responsibly governed AI deployment.
• In a video interview at the 2026 SCOPE Summit, Otis Johnson of Vantix Operations said expectations around environmental, social, and governance performance are shifting across the clinical trial vendor ecosystem. He explained that ESG is increasingly viewed by sponsors as a readiness and reliability indicator rather than a supplemental reporting exercise. Johnson noted growing supplier frustration with inconsistent ESG questionnaires, adding that integrating ESG assessments into existing vendor qualification and control systems may offer the most practical path forward.
• Also at SCOPE, Holly Leslie of Ledger Run said site selectivity is gaining momentum, particularly among larger and more sophisticated research sites. She pointed to payment practices—including holdbacks, inconsistent remuneration, and unpaid AI-driven data queries—as growing decision factors for sites. Leslie warned that unless sponsors apply the same rigor to payment performance as they do to recruitment, sites will increasingly shift work toward sponsors offering transparency, consistency, and fair compensation.

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