ACT Brief: AI Extends Trial Registries, Contract Bottlenecks Delay Activation, and Data Integration Pushes Integrated Care

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

• A new Applied Clinical Trials contributed article argues that clinical trial registries are evolving from static compliance tools into critical infrastructure for AI-enabled trial discovery. With more than 450,000 studies now registered globally, the piece highlights how high-quality, up-to-date registry data is essential for accurate AI-driven search, equitable trial visibility, and realistic feasibility planning, particularly for rare disease and community-based studies.
• In a new video interview with Applied Clinical Trials, Brian Mallon of ICON says prolonged contract and budget negotiations remain the primary barriers to faster site activation, with two-thirds of sites experiencing frequent delays. He notes that standardization, greater flexibility in negotiations, and AI-powered contract tools can cut cycle times significantly, helping sponsors treat contracting as a strategic enabler rather than an administrative hurdle.
• In a new Pharmaceutical Executive video interview, Inovalon’s Haley Burgess says integrated care is already achievable through real-time data connectivity across payer, provider, and patient systems. She explains that unified data platforms can reduce errors, support preventive care at the point of service, and improve patient safety by delivering the right information to the right stakeholder at the right time.

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