Agentic AI means computer systems that can think, plan, and act on their own to reach specific goals. Unlike regular AI that does simple or repeated tasks, agentic AI manages more difficult work. It can change what it does based on new information. It learns from what happens during trials and makes smart choices with little help from humans.
In clinical trials, agentic AI helps with many tasks like designing protocols, finding patients, coordinating sites, managing documents, and watching over the trial progress. These AI systems keep trials on time, make sure the data is correct, and follow U.S. rules like those from the FDA, HIPAA, and GxP.
Clinical trials have become harder in recent years. For example, Phase II and Phase III trials have many goals, big rules for who can join, and lots of data. Almost half of the drug development time involves waiting periods. These happen because work is done in steps or data is not well connected. This causes longer trials, more costs, and struggles for healthcare groups across the country.
Managing patient recruitment, checking sites, collecting data, and getting approvals takes lots of human effort. People often use many systems to handle this, which wastes time and can cause mistakes.
Faster Trial Design and Protocol Optimization
Agentic AI uses data from past trials and real-world information to make better trial plans fast. It picks the best patient groups, trial goals, and possible risks. The AI can also write important trial papers that follow rules, saving time and cutting down on costly changes later.
Reducing ‘White Space’ by Automating Sequential Workflows
AI agents automate many steps like recruiting patients, checking sites, handling contracts, and submitting papers. They do many of these tasks at the same time, not one after another, which cuts down waiting times. This helps trials in U.S. medical centers move faster.
Improving Patient Recruitment and Retention
Finding and keeping patients is one of the slowest parts of trials. Agentic AI uses data tools to look through health records and other data to match patients with trials quickly. It also makes sure patients are diverse and suitable. AI helps by sending tailored messages and tracking how patients are doing, which lowers dropouts.
Real-Time Data Monitoring and Quality Assurance
AI watches trial data all the time to find mistakes, spot safety problems early, and create questions automatically. This lowers the need for people to fix data by hand. It helps trial teams lock the database faster and make quicker decisions. This keeps data accurate and patients safe.
Streamlining Regulatory Compliance and Reporting
Agentic AI systems follow strict U.S. rules like FDA guidelines and privacy laws. They automate paperwork and reports, cutting down on admin work and speeding up rule checks. For medical practice owners and IT staff, this makes compliance smoother and audits easier.
Enhanced Coordination Across Multiple Sites and Systems
AI links easily with different clinical and business systems used in U.S. trial sites. It creates one central workflow, so data does not have to be moved around manually. This saves time and lowers mistakes from handling data on different platforms.
Healthcare administrators and IT staff need to understand how AI automates trial work. Agentic AI acts like a digital worker team, handling many jobs that used to need many people.
Workflow automation functions include:
Protocol and Documentation Management: AI creates, checks, and updates trial papers based on rules and new data. This saves time for staff doing paperwork.
Patient Identification & Communication: Smart programs search health data to find trial patients. They send follow-ups, reminders, and info automatically, helping patients stay in the trial.
Site Activation Automation: Trial sites often take time to get ready. AI speeds up contracts, approvals, and training at many sites at once, instead of one step at a time.
Data Integration and Monitoring: AI watches data all the time, finds problems fast, and alerts people. This lets trial teams focus on important tasks like patient care.
Risk Assessment and Decision Support: AI looks at data to find risks for operations and patient safety. It gives advice that helps teams act quickly.
Most automation works with humans in charge. AI does the repetitive work, but people still make important choices about safety and rules. This keeps the process open and trustworthy.
Some companies have made agentic AI better to improve clinical trials. IQVIA, a big clinical research company in the U.S. and worldwide, works with NVIDIA to build AI agents using strong computers. These AI agents do work like reviewing clinical data, checking scientific papers, and talking to healthcare experts. IQVIA says nearly half of drug development time is lost because of trial delays, and AI helps fix this.
Medable made Agent Studio, an AI platform that needs no coding. It helps sponsors and research groups quickly build AI agents. This platform connects with many clinical and business systems to keep data flowing smoothly. Medable’s CRA Agent joins data from many places, cutting down on work and letting Clinical Research Associates focus on patient safety and data accuracy.
Drug companies in the U.S. see the value of these AI systems. The top 10 to 15 pharma firms say agentic AI cuts trial startup times by up to 35 times and helps launch programs faster.
NVIDIA also works with groups like IQVIA, Illumina, and Mayo Clinic. Their AI supports many areas like genomics research and digital pathology. This helps trials get high-quality data. These efforts follow strict privacy and rule standards needed in the U.S.
Resource Optimization: AI cuts down admin work and many manual steps. This lets clinic teams focus more on patient care and managing sites.
Patient Experience: AI helps recruit and communicate with patients better. This makes joining trials easier and keeps patients longer, which helps reputation and rule following.
Data Security and Privacy: AI systems built under U.S. laws keep patient info safe during trial data handling. This lowers risks for healthcare groups.
Regulatory Readiness: Automated paperwork and reports help clinics meet FDA and sponsor reporting rules without extra problems. This makes audits easier.
Cost Containment: By cutting delays and mistakes, AI lowers costs from long trial times and wasted resources. This helps clinics manage money better.
Agentic AI tools in life sciences already help make clinical trials faster, data better, and rules easier to follow. As these tools improve, health care in the U.S. can gain more benefits. Future advances may include more automation of hard tasks, better prediction of trial problems, and more personalized treatments based on genomes and real-life data.
Healthcare workers and their admin and IT teams in clinical research should watch AI technology closely. Putting money into systems that work well with AI will help these groups join faster and smoother drug development. This is needed to get new treatments to patients quicker and lower healthcare costs.
Agentic AI offers a way to change clinical trials into faster, more reliable, and more patient-focused efforts. For medical practice administrators, owners, and IT managers in the U.S., learning about and using these technologies will be key to facing future clinical research challenges and helping patients get timely treatment benefits.
IQVIA’s new AI agents, developed with NVIDIA technology, are designed to enhance workflows and accelerate insights specifically for life sciences, helping streamline clinical research, simplify operations, and improve patient outcomes across various stages like target identification, clinical data review, literature review, and healthcare professional engagement.
IQVIA uses NVIDIA’s NIM Agent Blueprints for rapid development, NeMo Customizer for fine-tuning AI models, and NeMo Guardrails to ensure safe deployment. This collaboration enables customized agentic AI workflows that meet the unique needs of the life sciences industry.
Agentic AI provides precision, efficiency, and speed in critical workflows such as planning clinical trials, reviewing literature, and commercial launches, allowing life sciences companies to gain actionable insights faster and improve decision-making.
Use cases include target identification for drug development, clinical data review, literature review, market assessment, and enhanced engagement with healthcare professionals (HCPs), which collectively improve research and commercial processes.
IQVIA integrates deep life sciences and healthcare domain expertise with advanced AI technology to deliver highly relevant, accurate, and compliant AI-powered solutions tailored to the industry’s complex workflows.
IQVIA employs a variety of privacy-enhancing technologies and safeguards, adhering to stringent regulatory requirements to protect individual patient privacy while enabling large-scale data analysis for improved health outcomes.
Healthcare-grade AI® by IQVIA is specifically built for the precision, speed, trust, and regulatory compliance needed in life sciences, facilitating high-quality actionable insights throughout the clinical asset lifecycle.
AI agents accelerate clinical trials by efficiently sifting through vast literature, identifying relevant data, coordinating workflow stages from discovery to commercial application, and reducing time-consuming manual tasks.
The partnership accelerates the development of customized foundation models and agentic AI workflows to enhance clinical development and access to new treatments, pushing the future of life sciences research and commercialization.
IQVIA TechIQ 2025, a two-day conference in London, will feature thought leaders including NVIDIA, exploring strategic approaches to AI implementation in life sciences to navigate the evolving frontier of healthcare AI applications.