The IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science conducted a global webinar on March 30, 2022, which followed the release of a recent IQVIA Institute report on Global Trends in R&D: Overview through 2021.

The webinar included participation from an esteemed group of panelists who contributed to the discussion with insightful perspectives about the current state of and future prospects for biopharmaceutical R&D.

• The activity-productivity conundrum in clinical drug development: Why is global clinical trial activity at an all-time high while clinical development productivity has been declining? Is the decline in productivity a logical reflection of the historically high intensity of clinical trial activity and the increase in investments to pursue new novel innovations? How can you reduce potential failures “when you are swinging for the fences?”
• Failures rising in Phase III studies: Data in the Global R&D report suggests the number of failures in drug development is increasing in Phase III. How can we advance efforts to assess and predict potential failures already in Phase I and Phase II studies to avoid more costly failures in Phase III?
• Operational challenges in drug development: Panelists discussed a number of operational challenges in drug development, including overload of global trial sites, the war on talent regarding clinical trial professionals, and the difficulties regulatory agency teams are facing to hire experts and keep pace with rapidly changing scientific and technical requirements in the R&D environment. How can the remarkable responses to the pandemic translate to sustainable approaches that can address some of these challenges?
• The growing importance of novel trial designs and trial formats: Decentralized clinical trials and virtualization, master protocols, platform trials, and adaptive trials are all pertinent to this conversation. Where can these designs be most effectively deployed and how can COVID-19-related experiences be further applied?
• Patient diversity and patient-centricity: How do you conduct clinical development in an environment where expectations about patient diversity and more representative patient participation in clinical trials have fundamentally changed? How do you make clinical drug development more patient-centric so that patients and their families can truly understand and relate to the opportunities offered to them through clinical trials as a treatment option?
• Global rebalancing of R&D: How radical will the changes be in the global infrastructure around clinical trials, given the growing requirements for multi-regional studies and data, globalization of clinical trials sites, and rapidly evolving policies in the European Union and China around clinical trial regulations?

• Joseph DiMasi, Ph.D.
  Director of Economic Analysis, Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development
• Cartier Esham, Ph.D.
  Chief Science Officer, Biotechnology Innovation Organization
• Tim Opler, Ph.D.
  Partner and Co-founder, Torreya Partners
• Peter Ronco
  Head, Global Development, Janssen
• Mark Trusheim, MSc
  Strategic Director, NEWDIGS, MIT Center for Biomedical Innovation
  Visiting Scientist, Sloan School of Management, MITv
  President, Co-Bio Consulting