Clinical trials have long been seen as complex, costly, and often slow. But, that perception is shifting. With changing tech-stacks, innovative pharma and life sciences businesses are now using their clinical operations as a driver of competitive advantage.
This has changed rapidly in the last few years as smarter data infrastructure, AI-native platforms, and innovators significantly reducing their time-to-market, have caused a market shift. Here are four trends reshaping the clinical trials landscape:
1. Data liquidity is the new battleground
The challenge is no longer data collection—it’s data flow. Expectations are very high, with sponsors wanting real-time access to data, regulators demanding richer and more diverse data, and patients expecting seamless digital engagement. At the 2025 EPA Conference in Amsterdam, we saw that regulators are looking at more Real World Evidence using data from patient registries, insurance claims and electronic health records both during and after trials.
This is driving demand for modular, API-first platforms that can integrate with electronic health records, eConsent tools, wearables and analytics engines—without locking sponsors into rigid workflows. The winners will be those who can orchestrate data across the trial ecosystem while maintaining compliance and control.
2. Decentralisation is evolving into hybrid intelligence
With more trials now happening outside of traditional trial sites, such through virtual consultations, direct-to-patient trial materials, the complexity of trial logistics has increased. Providers need to be able to manage this effectively, and they need to be able to intelligently blend digital and physical touchpoints. This requires platforms that can manage complex, multi-modal workflows—while maintaining a single source of truth for data and documentation.
We have seen this decentralisation of trials support improved engagement over the last decade, but there is still more potential to be achieved. New features such as patient preference modelling and adaptive logistics (i.e. automatically adjusting visit times or inventory management) are all supporting better trial retention.
3. AI is moving upstream—and getting smarter
When we discussed clinical trials technology only two years ago, we were looking at AI as effective for creating efficiencies in ‘data extraction and cleaning, data mapping, analysis, labelling, indexing…’ How much has changed in two years. Now it is being used for everything from simulating trial designs, predicting regulatory outcomes and generating synthetic control arms. These capabilities are reducing trial sizes, accelerating timelines and improving statistical power.
But the real innovation lies in how AI is being embedded across businesses. It is why meaningful solutions aren’t just helping clinical teams, but also regulatory, safety and commercial functions, and why the most important thing isn’t necessarily what the technology can do, but how simple it is for people to use.
4. Investment is flowing into the sector
Global investment in the pharma and healthtech sectors remains strong. In the first half of 2025, investment has continued to flow into companies building the next generation of clinical platforms, AI-native tools and regulatory automation.
Source: PitchBook Data, Inc., Q3 2025 Healthtech VC Trends.
While total $ invested is still down from a peak in 2021, the growth of companies at the seed level, hopefully indicates strong signs of growth for the future, with more emerging companies supporting on regulatory change and the product lifecycle. Clinical operations are no longer a back-office function – they are a growth engine – and the infrastructure that supports them is now a board-level priority.
