The Future Of Automation And Digital Transformation In Late Phase Research

By Hady Khoury, ICON

Digitalisation’s Potential to Shorten Timelines and Reduce Costs
It’s been nearly two decades since Electronic Data Capture (EDC) technology was introduced into clinical trials – one of the first significant steps in automating the trial process. Now, with the availability of robotic process automation (RPA), cognitive analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI), it’s time to press on with further digitalisation of clinical development. Gartner defines digitalisation as “the use of digital technologies to change a business model and provide new revenue and value-producing opportunities.[1] Even though clinical development is, by its very nature, a “people business,” there is ample opportunity to use these new technologies to perform manual tasks, reducing the opportunity for error, freeing staff for higher-value tasks and speeding processes. Ultimately, automation can help us dramatically shorten development timelines and realise significant cost savings.