Clinical trials solutions provider WCG is acquiring tech company The Contract Network to improve alignment and decision-making across clinical trial initiation.
The move will support WCG’s ClinSphere platform, which uses AI to guide trial design, assess site feasibility and support enrollment, according to an April 21 release. The Contract Network’s focus is applying AI to contract and study start-up workflows.
Via the acquisition, WCG aims to simplify the most complex and time-sensitive aspects of clinical trials without creating more processes for clinical sites to manage. It will leverage The Contract Network’s ability to identify inconsistencies in study documents and predict problems before they arrive or cause delays in the trial process.
In a statement, The Contract Network CEO Jim Wagner said the deal is about creating a more connected and intelligent clinical research ecosystem while growing the scale and impact of the company’s work.
Complex tasks like navigating contracts and budgets—and selecting the right sites—can be some of the most difficult phases of clinical research, WCG CEO Sam Srivastava commented.
“With The Contract Network, we accelerate the advancement of our AI roadmap by extending the capabilities we already have in place across site enablement,” he said. “By bringing this specialized intelligence into our site enablement ecosystem, we can help sites and sponsors move forward with greater clarity and confidence.”
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CROs and their biopharma sponsors have been busy deploying AI into the clinical trial process to improve efficiency. Earlier this month, Fortrea launched its own AI engine to speed up clinical trials, while Big Pharmas like AstraZeneca and Astellas linked up with Evinova in a similar effort earlier this year.
