SCOPE Summit 2026 Keynote Panel: Is Radical Acceleration in Clinical Research Possible?

Efficiency and accelerating clinical trial timelines have emerged as key themes at this year’s annual SCOPE Summit in Orlando, FL. The opening keynote panel of the event moderated by Jeremy Goldberg, operating partner, healthcare, Arsenal Capital Partners, focused on one simple question: is radical acceleration in clinical research possible?

Joining Goldberg on stage for the panel discussion were Sandeep Burugupalli, head, data science & biopharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca; Shawne Moran, head, in-country study operations-Americas, EMD Serono/Merck KGaA Darmstadt, Germany; and Jared Saul, MD, chief medical officer, commercial healthcare and life sciences, Amazon Web Services.

While this panel discussion homed in on the potential for radical acceleration, an earlier discussion in the keynote between Ken Getz of the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development and Eliav Barr of Merck set the tone by addressing operational efficiency in today’s research climate.

Potential for radical acceleration across the drug development timeline

For the discussion on radical acceleration, Goldberg began by asking each of the panelists which specific stages of research would present the best opportunity for compressing timelines.

Burugupalli answered first by explaining that there might not be much opportunity for acceleration in later phases of a study. However, in the planning stages before a trial, there are plenty of areas ripe for increased efficiency.

“That's in my mind, the area that we really see opportunity, is areas like protocol design, site application, site selection, and the enrollment readiness,” he said. “Those are the areas that if you really take the decisions that are being made up front, really create a super optimal strategy. That's where we really see the most impact.”

Technology’s role in acceleration

Goldberg then turned the conversation over to Saul, who brought a technology perspective to the conversation.

“If you think about the challenges of patient recruitment and site selection, one of them is, obviously, we don't know where the patients are, and there's no easy way to get a real time look. At best, you're looking at data from six months or a year ago and making educated guesses,” Saul said. “There is technology now that's very interesting that will allow data producers—health providers, in this instance—to share their data without having to fear that they're going to wind up on the headlines of the New York Times for a data breach.”

Technologies like the one Saul highlighted are getting to a point where they are very mature. Adding another layer through artificial intelligence (AI) can even take things another step further.

“It’s a very interesting area,” he said.

Finding balance

When it comes to implementing these new technologies, Moran said it is all about balance. She used the patient experience as an example, and how human interaction is something that can never be replaced by AI.

“When you look at what we're doing to sites, is when we're speeding things up and coming up with creative, great ways to find patients and outreach to patients who go to communities, but are they actually able to spend time with those patients?” Moran said. “I am a firm believer. I love AI. I love productivity. I've participated in a clinical trial. You're never going to replace the human component discussing a medical condition with a patient. Just use it for productivity, and you could speed things up.”

Radical acceleration predictions

To conclude, each member of the panel shared their final thoughts as well as how long they thought it would be possible to achieve radical acceleration.

Moran and Saul each predicted two to three years, while Burugupalli said two to five.

“It's really about how we as an industry come together around that technology and redesign all of our workflows, but also the way that we use this technology with our patients and the human relationships is very important,” Burugupalli concluded.

Source

Goldberg J, Burugupalli S, Moran S, Saul J. From Years to Months: Is Radical Acceleration in Clinical Research Possible? SCOPE Summit 2026. February 3, 2026.