Building Patient-Centric Virtualized Trials

Alessio Signorini’s presentation framed digital health and data science as a strategic inflection point for Pharma. The core message is that healthcare—and therefore drug development—has historically relied on sparse, episodic clinical data, while the vast majority of patient health signals remain “invisible” between visits. Advances in cloud infrastructure, wearables, mobile devices, and AI now make it possible to capture continuous, passive, real-world data at population scale and with regulatory-grade rigor .

From a Pharma perspective, this has three major implications. First, clinical development can move beyond averages toward identifying high responders, earlier signals of efficacy, and safety through longitudinal digital biomarkers. Second, decentralized and virtualized trials—built on secure, compliant cloud platforms—can reduce cost, accelerate timelines, and improve patient recruitment and retention, while operating within strict global regulatory constraints. Third, post-market evidence generation becomes a core capability: continuously measuring behavior, physiology, and outcomes allows us to demonstrate real-world value, optimize adherence, and support differentiated market access narratives.

Signorini emphasized that this is not about “moving fast and breaking things,” but about building highly reliable, auditable systems that regulators, partners, and patients can trust. The strategic takeaway is clear: Pharma companies must increasingly think like data and technology organizations, partnering where needed, to translate continuous real-world data into measurable health outcomes. Those who do will gain a durable advantage in R&D productivity, evidence generation, and long-term impact on patient health.