CROs must embrace AI says PhaseV, following $50m funding round to expand platform

CROs should embrace artificial intelligence (AI), or they risk losing clients to rival drug trial contractors, according to Massachusetts-based technology developer PhaseV.

The comments come from PhaseV CEO Raviv Pryluk, who told Clinical Insider, “The reality is that CROs who do not embrace AI will fall behind. We are collaborating with more CROs, and the ones not adopting our technology are losing clients to those who do.

“We have published papers on our approaches and have many successful use cases. Once teams start working with us, the value becomes clear,” he said.

The news follows just days after PhaseV raised $50 million to fund the expansion of its AI trial optimization platform. The Series A round saw VC investors Accel and Insight Partners join backers Viola Ventures, EXOR, and LionBird.

Pryluk told us, “Our platform initially focused on two core areas: the Trial Optimizer and Causal Machine Learning. We are now expanding two additional areas: causal disease modeling and clinical operations.

“Additionally, we are expanding our capabilities and growing our data lake to include more therapeutic areas and modalities. This will allow us to provide even deeper insights and support a wider range of clinical trials.”

FDA endorsement

AI is a hot topic for the trial sector, particularly since the US FDA announced plans for an “aggressive agency-wide AI rollout” this month.

At the time, the agency cited a successful pilot that saw reviewers use generative AI to automate “tedious, repetitive tasks that often slow down the review process,” as the basis for the move.

While full details of the plan are yet to be announced, the FDA’s decision is an endorsement of the potential of AI technology to optimize trials, according to Pryluk.

“First and foremost, it is great news for patients because a faster, more efficient review process means they can access treatments sooner. Second, it sends a strong signal to sponsors that the FDA is open to AI innovation, which we believe will encourage more sponsors to adopt our technology,” he told Clinical Insider.

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