The Department of Health and Human Services has announced a set of new initiatives intended to accelerate clinical trials by incorporating more artificial intelligence and computational models, according to STAT. The effort is also meant to move away from sharply delineated trial phases, a shift U.S. officials said would help compete with China and other countries in clinical research.
The centerpiece is a five-year program called SURPASS, short for “Simulation-augmented, Real-time Platform Adaptive Seamless Trials.” It will be launched through the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, or ARPA-H. Starting later this fall, the program will accept proposals from cross-disciplinary teams working in statistics, AI, and clinical trial design, operations, and regulation.
The initial announcement did not say how much funding was designated for the new initiatives, nor did it provide details on whether participants would be offered more flexibility or resources. The program is still in its early rollout phase, with further specifics expected as the application process opens.