In today's ACT Brief, we examine practical guidance for clinical operations teams beginning AI adoption, how hierarchical endpoints better reflect treatment benefit, and why early-stage program failures signal smarter pipeline management.
News|Podcasts|April 1, 2026
ACT Brief: Intuitive Technology Design and Site Compliance, Vaccine Follow-Up Strategy Optimization, and AI-Driven Antibody Discovery
Author(s)Andy Studna, Senior Editor
In today's ACT Brief, we explore how user-friendly technology reduces errors and site workarounds, strategic approaches to combining traditional and real-world data collection for vaccine long-term follow-up, and Merck's collaboration with Infinimmune to accelerate antibody discovery using AI.
This is the Applied Clinical Trials Brief—your fast track to the latest insights shaping clinical operations and drug development.
- In part four of her video
interview , Cheryl Kole, vice president of solution strategy and commercialization at Almac Clinical Technologies, made the case that intuitive, easy-to-navigate technology directly reduces errors and improves site compliance. User-friendly design prevents the workarounds that quietly undermine study performance by aligning systems with how sites actually work.
- In a new contributed
article from ICON, authors highlighted how vaccine developers can reduce participant burden and extend follow-up timelines by strategically combining traditional site visits with real-world data collection through clinical trial tokenization. The choice depends on follow-up duration, data requirements, and patient population, with early planning enabling greater efficiencies and access to broader patient data. - Merck entered an $838 million
collaboration with Infinimmune to leverage AI-driven antibody discovery against multiple disease targets. Infinimmune's platform analyzes human immune cell libraries to identify novel antibodies with improved safety and efficacy profiles, addressing limitations in traditional antibody development and supporting Merck's effort to diversify beyond its oncology franchise ahead of anticipated revenue pressures.
That's all for today's ACT Brief. Join us tomorrow for more updates shaping clinical operations and drug development. Thanks for listening.
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