Applications of AI in digital healthcare: Clinical trials, medical affairs and real-world evidence

Authored by: Matt Lewis, Global Chief of Artificial and Augmented Intelligence at Inizio and Lori Klein, Partner and Medical and Scientific Affairs Practice Lead at Putnam, an Inizio Advisory company

The discourse around AI has for years been focused on its potential to revolutionize the way we live and work. In digital health, it’s bearing fruit and AI now has a broad range of applications including patient and physician engagement and education, and clinical trial design.

AI in clinical trials 

AI’s most promising use case in clinical trials is within predictive analytics and analyzing data from previous trials to identify factors that make certain trials more successful than others. By understanding these factors, researchers can focus on interventions that can improve trial outcomes. Virtual versions of trials, or ‘digital twins’, can be created using AI to simulate different scenarios and test the potential impact of changes before implementing them in a real trial. This helps to minimize the risk of costly mistakes and optimize trial outcomes. When used correctly, AI enables researchers to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of clinical trials, which can ultimately lead to better patient outcomes.

However, it is important to be aware of the pitfalls of the current free versions of AI, such as ChatGPT. Companies should avoid inputting any clinical trial data or patient data into the free version of ChatGPT, as there is a risk of unpublished data being shared.

“ChatGPT will take all of this input data and use it to improve its performance, so if you ingest data on an ongoing clinical trial on breast cancer before those results have been analyzed, reported, and the like, the raw information will be in the cloud and could be either directly or indirectly shared with others in the world without your knowledge. The newer paid model or the models incorporated into existing engines may prove safer.”

Matt Lewis, Global Chief of Artificial and Augmented Intelligence at Inizio

AI in medical affairs

In the field of digital medical affairs, AI tools can adapt to various tasks, such as setting up a scientific platform or using generative AI to write content…

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