ACT Brief: Patient Voice in Protocol Design, AI-Informed Recruitment Workflows, and Engagement Maturity Beyond Performative

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

• In part one of a new interview, Amélie Lothe, global medical community head for rare epilepsies at UCB Pharma, explains why genuine patient partnership begins before the protocol is written. When patients and caregivers say a trial was designed with them in mind, that alignment reflects input that shaped core decisions, not consultative feedback added after structure was locked.
• In a new Q&A, John Worden, chief commercial officer at Javara, discussed why AI-enabled recruitment must combine patient identification at scale with the clinician relationships that build trust. Technology should inform and enable, not displace, the physician's role in helping patients decide whether research is right for them.
• In a new feature from Pharmaceutical Executive, authors defined a maturity curve moving engagement from ad hoc, performative activities to integrated, mission-driven partnerships with measurable organizational change. Patient expectations have shifted from awareness campaigns to concrete protocol and support-service changes reflecting their input.

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