ACT Brief: AstraZeneca Expands Immunotherapy Reach as Thermo Fisher’s $8.8B Deal Signals New Phase for Digital Trials

This is the Applied Clinical Trials Brief—your fast track to the latest insights in clinical research operations. In under three minutes, we’ll recap top stories, highlight expert perspectives, and keep you current on what’s moving the industry.

In today’s episode, we spotlight the growing need to simplify site technology, new data from AstraZeneca reinforcing a major immunotherapy advance, and a multibillion-dollar acquisition that’s set to reshape digital clinical research capabilities.

• We begin with a look at how technology complexity is impacting clinical trial sites. Ahead of the 2025 SCRS Global Site Solutions Summit, Robin Douglas of Medidata and Steve Rosenberg of uMotif spoke with Applied Clinical Trials about the growing challenge of interoperability. Many sites now manage up to 200 active studies, often requiring 20 or more systems per trial. Both experts agree that fragmented tech stacks and patient-facing devices add to site burden—placing new demands on support, multilingual resources, and workflow integration. Their message: it’s time for sponsors and vendors to take a more holistic approach, reducing redundancy and empowering sites to focus on what matters most—patient relationships and data quality.
• Next, AstraZeneca’s Nancy Ghattas, vice president and US oncology commercial franchise head of immuno-oncology, discussed how the Phase III MATTERHORN trial results are redefining early-stage gastric and gastroesophageal cancer treatment. The Imfinzi-based regimen demonstrated a 22% reduction in the risk of death and improved overall survival across PD-L1 subgroups—marking the first immunotherapy in this setting to show a broad, biomarker-independent benefit. Ghattas said this represents not only a major scientific breakthrough but a paradigm shift in how biomarkers may be used to guide therapy selection in early disease.
• Finally, Thermo Fisher Scientific has announced an $8.8 billion definitive agreement to acquire Clario Holdings. The deal will bring Clario’s advanced data intelligence and technology solutions under Thermo Fisher’s biopharma services division. Executives say the move will deepen the company’s digital and AI capabilities, enabling faster, more informed decision-making across the drug development lifecycle.

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