Clinical Trials

The extraordinary success of the creation of vaccines for Covid-19 has made the business of clinical trials look simple. But appearances can be deceptive and it usually takes many years and costs hundreds of millions of pounds to bring a new drug, therapy or medical device successfully to market.

Evan Davis and his guests discuss how the economics of commercial clinical trials now look for companies in the light of such a disruptive event as the pandemic. How far is greater collaboration - with start-ups partnering with big pharma and research companies - changing the way in which trials operate? And will new tech developments - like the greater, tailored use of Artificial Intelligence, digital data and advanced statistical techniques - make the process cheaper and quicker - while compromising neither safety nor patient confidentiality?

Those taking part are: Nuala Murphy of the executive team at Icon plc, a Dublin-based clinical research organisation which last year worked with Pfizer/BioNTech on their Covid-19 vaccine; Houman Ashrafian, managing partner of the biotech team at SVHealth Investors, a venture capital firm with offices in London and Boston; and Avideh Nazeri, vice-president in the UK for clinical development, medical and regulatory affairs at the Danish-headquartered integrated pharmaceutical company, Novo Nordisk.

Editor Hugh Levinson