The Scoop On SCOPE

By Dan Schell, Chief Editor, Clinical Leader

I’m going to whisper this to you so no one hears, because this is something so cutting edge that I want only you to know it:

AI is going to revolutionize clinical trials.

Wait … you’ve heard that before? Well, so much for my scoop.

Indeed, as I return from my second SCOPE Summit, it likely will be days before my “AI-lag” (Yes, I’m coining this term and basing it on those instances when you ingest an overabundance of AI blather/facts) subsides. Just about every booth in the exhibit hall had some flavor of AI to it, and the topic even bled into the non-AI-focused sessions I attended. While many of the AI conversations and presentations focused on the same-old-same-old, there were a few instances where I felt compelled to scribble some notes:

• In a session featuring two Lilly presenters, they advocated for embracing AI proof of concepts and then to keep iterating and testing. Sure, nothing revolutionary, but the essence of what they were saying is to have the guts to try something — and then keep trying. You know, that whole fast-to-fail approach that we talk about all the time in drug dev. I even liked it when they explained that once the concept got to the point they felt it was ready to be reviewed by upper management, they limited the demo to 2 minutes. All steak no sizzle. Nice.
• Medical writing is low-hanging fruit for AI applications in clinical research, but it’s still great to hear when people share actual details rather than regurgitating the endless “possibilities” of this tech. For example, in one panel, a representative from Endo Pharma stated that by using AI to help write CSRs, they saved 3-4 weeks of time. And I did hear one AbbVie rep state that they developed their own internal GenAI similar to ChatGPT, but they were mum on its actual applications.

SMALL GROUP, BIG IDEAS

With 4,500 attendees wandering around SCOPE, I took full advantage of the networking opportunities and connected with some old and new friends. For example, I was able to attend a meeting of what one person called an “informal group similar to a think tank” that included, among others, Clinical Leader board members Samir Shah and Jim Kremidas. Jim was talking to the group about his new organization, the AMRC. After all, aside from AI, site networks — and their current allure to private equity — are a common topic of discussion these days. The conversation spanned everything from defining the different types of site networks to acknowledging that we need more data when determining the effectiveness of working with a MCRC (multisite clinical research corporations) vs. the traditional model of site selection. It was a small group of experienced and influential players who all recognize that change management is the monster we must slay before making any significant progress in this battle to trim out the fat of some ClinOps processes while at the same time speeding them up and keeping patients safe. Simple, right?

Aside from that, I got to eat a very tasty lunch (provided by SCOPE) outside in blistering sunlight with the always delightful Christine Senn; I hung out on the stairs leading to the second floor of the conference center with consultant extraordinaire Denise Bronner, who introduced me to Brandon Li, cofounder of Power; and I used the small area SCOPE had offered to the media (thanks Micah Lieberman) outside the exhibit hall to sit down and chat with my recent AI Clinical Leader Live panelist Elena Sinclair and the one-and-only Craig Lipset.

What? I’m not name dropping enough for you? Ok, here’s my speed round of some more interactions/insights:

• Joe Kim of ProofPilot is hilarious when not wrangling dinosaurs.
• We need to figure out a way to bottle the positivity and energy that Jess Thompson and Lauren Stockwell naturally exude.
• Elizabeth Tabor wins the contest for the longest stack of those ribbons you attach to your name badge (she’s also awesome at connecting people!).
• Brad Hightower loves DCTs and speaking on panels (I may be lying about both of those facts).
• After sending me some great DCT research, Abby Dirks is my favorite data scientist at Tufts. Full disclosure: She’s also the only data scientist at Tufts that I know.
• If Robert Goldman is scheduled to be on a panel, go to that panel. Platitudes are not his forte.

I HEARD WHAT YOU SAID

Overall, I’d say there wasn’t any one thing that knocked my socks off at this year’s SCOPE, but that isn’t necessarily bad. The conference had tracks that covered every aspect of ClinOps, and if there wasn’t a session that addressed some industry challenge you were facing, you probably weren’t looking hard enough.

Perusing my notes from the sessions I attended, I did see some interesting quotes. For example, In a patient recruitment session, I heard “It’s important to enroll real patients, not ideal patients,” and “We dropped the ball after COVID Warp Speed by not continuing to educate the public on what clinical trials are.” Some of my other favorites include, “Site selection is an exercise in risk management” and “I’m drowning in data; what I need is information. If AI can give me that, I’m in favor of using it.” My point is, even if you didn’t encounter some revelatory topic or session at SCOPE, it’s likely there were some nuggets of actionable information hiding in plain sight. Maybe there’s an AI app that can help you find them!