Leaders from Protas, Salesforce, and Slalom share their insights on how healthcare and life sciences leaders can realize the potential of innovation and technology to create a systemic foundation for clinical trial modernization.

At Fierce JPM Week in January, Slalom’s global industry lead for life sciences, Johanna DeYoung, led a powerful conversation with Protas CEO Sir Martin Landray and Salesforce VP and Chief Health Officer Dr. Fatima Paruk, MD, MPH. Together they explored how the manual and time-intensive processes of clinical trials can be automated, decentralized, and evolved to reduce costs while enabling higher visibility, transparency, and efficiency—ultimately speeding lifechanging new therapies to market.

Don’t have time to watch? Get our key takeaways:

• Expedited and higher-quality trials. Slalom highlighted key opportunities to drive increased trial performance: faster data refresh times, prioritizing health equity, and thoughtful application of AI using real-world data (RWD) for simulation of performance to enable quicker starts.

• Data maturity. To realize these and other opportunities, many healthcare and life sciences companies need to mature their approach to data. Leaders should consider centralizing and democratizing data, implementing robust data governance, and harnessing structured and unstructured data sources to gain longitudinal patient views and improve study design.

• Data reusability. The startling statistic that around 90% of healthcare and life sciences data goes unused underscores the urgent need to improve data reusability. Healthcare leaders should prioritize proactive privacy and consent management and work toward maximizing the value derived from existing data assets.

• Embracing innovation. Sir Martin Landray's insights into the outdated nature of current clinical trial practices and the associated high costs serve as a wake-up call for healthcare and life sciences leaders. Embracing innovation, smarter trial design, technology, and policy improvements can lead to more efficient and cost-effective trials.

• Patient-centric approach. All panelists emphasized the critical importance of designing trials to prioritize patient experiences and participation, as this can significantly impact trial success and outcomes.

• Inspirational goals. Protas’ ambitious goal of conducting four trials per year and running 20 trials concurrently by 2028 serves as an inspiration for industry leaders. It underscores the potential for transformative change in clinical trials and encourages leaders to think big and collaborate on innovative solutions.
   

In summary, healthcare and life sciences leaders should focus on embracing emerging trends, improving data practices, prioritizing patient-centric approaches, and considering ambitious goals to drive positive changes in clinical trials and healthcare outcomes.