SCOPE Summit 2025: Advarra’s Ashley Davidson Highlights Current Challenges with Study Startup
In an interview with ACT senior editor Andy Studna at SCOPE Summit, Davidson, vice president, product lead - sponsor tech strategy, Advarra, discussed ongoing challenges in study startup processes, including contract and budget issues, and feasibility concerns, which have persisted for over a decade.
ACT: What are some current challenges with study startup and how can they be addressed?
Davidson: Unfortunately, we have a lot of the same challenges today in study startup that we were talking about 10 or 15 years ago. We still as an industry, are aware of the longest pole in the tent, which is contracts and budgets. We know feasibility is a challenge, but I would actually add another challenge today that's even more pervasive than ever before, and that is the lack of collaboration in study startup and a lack of site centricity. I think that's really important to consider the site as a very big stakeholder in the study startup process. Study startup is not just a transaction where you're needing to get things from sites and get those back, they actually want to be an active part of it, and also need the same amount of visibility into those critical path milestones as sponsors do.
Newsletter
Stay current in clinical research with Applied Clinical Trials, providing expert insights, regulatory updates, and practical strategies for successful clinical trial design and execution.
Managing Side Effects and Dosing in Off-Label GLP-1 Use with Help from Real-World Evidence
July 18th 2025Shipra Patel, global therapeutic area section head, endocrinology, global head, pediatrics, Parexel, explains how real-world data is helping researchers navigate gastrointestinal side effects, dose flexibility, and long-term tolerability in off-label GLP-1 use.
Funding Cuts Threaten Diversity in Clinical Research
June 27th 2025In this video interview, Kyle McAllister, co-founder, CEO, Trially, discusses how recent federal funding cuts are likely to undermine research focused on underrepresented populations, and why long-term investment in community-based studies is essential to closing persistent health equity gaps.
2025 DIA Annual Meeting: Why AI and Automation Are Set to Become the New Normal in Clinical Research
June 20th 2025Peter Ronco, CEO, Emmes, shares his long-term vision for artificial intelligence in clinical research, from making automation routine to improving drug discovery, transforming regulatory oversight, reducing animal testing, and promoting ethical, equitable data use worldwide.
