From bottlenecks to breakthroughs: Human-centred strategies for faster study starts

Clinical trial start-up is increasingly complex. Study feasibility in clinical trials is taking longer, clinical study start-up activities are heavier, and sites face persistent delays in contracting, budgeting, and site activation. ICON’s recent survey of 102 site professionals reveals these clinical trial start-up challenges and the need for smarter, more supportive approaches to study start-up in clinical trials.

This whitepaper outlines the results from our industry survey and highlights the actionable strategies of how ICON is supporting sponsors to streamline start-up and empower clinical sites including:

• Implementing site engagement approaches that balance alignment and competing priorities

• Utilising human-enabled predictive analytics to identify optimal sites and streamline budget and contract negotiations

• Adopting data-informed over-selection strategies to improve site readiness and reduce attrition

• Accelerating contract and budget negotiations with SmartDraft AI, cutting cycle times and speeding clinical trial budgeting and site activation

• Building stronger site engagement through dedicated liaisons and embedded experts who drive momentum across the clinical study start-up process.

• Simplifying site training, documentation and communication with the FIRECREST portal for faster, tech-enabled clinical site activation and more efficient study start-up activities in clinical trials.