Latest news with #Saama
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
AI should unlock clinical trial data, say experts
Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to uncover valuable insights hidden in protocols and clinical study reports across the pharmaceutical industry, according to experts at the Outsourcing in Clinical Trials East Coast 2025 conference in King of Prussia. During a panel discussion on AI in clinical research, Prasanna Rao, Chief Products and Innovation officer at Saama emphasised the importance of making protocol data available to large language models (LLMs), so tools such as ChatGPT can support informed patient decision-making. 'Companies are very protective of clinical protocol data, and I'm not sure why,' said Rao. 'These documents are already distributed broadly, including to patients. There's nothing particularly sensitive in them. I believe the real concern is that big pharma is nervous about AI analysing these protocols and potentially uncovering insights that people might overlook - but there's no real reason for that fear.' Rao urged the industry to be more transparent: 'We need to make this kind of data available. Patients in a trial want to fully understand what they're signing up for. Imagine a patient uploads a protocol and asks, 'What will I go through in this study?' AI could then analyse related data and provide a clear summary, helping them make better decisions.' Cole Eshbach, Senior Clinical Trial Manager at Endo cautioned that while AI is powerful, it's not always the right tool for every trial situation. 'There's a popular saying right now - AI can be like a nail looking for a hammer,' said Eshbach. 'Just because AI is available doesn't mean it's the best solution for your needs. If you don't have a large trial database or the necessary infrastructure, it might not be the most cost-effective option. Sometimes, a simpler tool you already have can do the job just as well.' Bryan Clayton, founder and CEO of BC Consulting Group, encouraged attendees to experiment with AI tools through everyday conversation. 'My advice to people is simple: talk to ChatGPT, or whatever AI tool you're using like you would talk to a person. First, treat it like a conversation. Second, ask it what you should be asking. It might sound odd, but say, 'Hey ChatGPT, what should I ask you about this protocol or topic?' It'll guide you. If you keep the dialogue going, you'll start to see its potential - and realise, 'Wow, I can actually use this to do something valuable.' Looking ahead, Rao pointed to agentic AI - AI systems that can autonomously plan and execute complex tasks – as a major advancement poised to transform clinical trials. 'I built an agent to help with a specific task - checking if anyone else was running a similar Phase III trial. It gave me answers in seconds,' shared Rao. 'That's the power of this technology. It's the same kind of deep research AI others use, but you can build your own with open-source tools, which is more cost-effective.' He added that Saama is actively deploying such agents across its platform. 'It's still early, but in the next year or two, we'll see major time and cost savings. Tasks like data gathering that used to take a lot of manual effort can now be automated. That frees up knowledge workers to focus on more important work.' Cole Eshbach closed the discussion with a long-term perspective. 'We're not where we need to be yet, but five years from now, the impact of AI could be enormous. Every industry shift now includes AI. It's going to transform our field, and the sooner we adapt, the more we'll benefit - saving money, speeding up timelines, and improving things for sites and participants.' "AI should unlock clinical trial data, say experts" was originally created and published by Clinical Trials Arena, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Hospitality Net
14-05-2025
- Business
- Hospitality Net
Rupali Sawhney has been appointed Chief Customer Officer (CCO) at Otelier (formerly myDigitalOffice)
Otelier, a hospitality data platform powering the future of hotel operations, today announced the appointment of Rupali Sawhney as Chief Customer Officer. In this newly established executive role, Sawhney will lead Otelier's customer organization with a focus on building strong, lasting partnerships across the entire customer lifecycle - from onboarding and implementation through training, feature adoption, and ongoing success. Sawhney brings more than 15 years of experience driving service excellence and transformational growth across enterprise software organizations. Her leadership will be instrumental in empowering Otelier's customer-facing teams to deliver hands-on support and proactive guidance, helping hoteliers operate more efficiently, drive profitability, and unlock a 360-degree view of their operations and guests. Prior to joining Otelier, Sawhney held senior executive roles at top SaaS and enterprise technology firms, including Quickbase, Saama, IBM Watson (now Merative), Pegasystems, and Sovos. Her experience spans every stage of the client journey - enterprise sales, customer success, product strategy, and solution delivery - giving her a holistic perspective critical to Otelier's customer-first approach. The appointment of Sawhney underscores Otelier's continued investment in customer success and its broader vision to centralize hotel operations data, reduce manual workloads, and drive performance across every department. Learn more about the hospitality data platform powering the future of hotel operations at
