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Appian SDEL: Keeping Clinical Studies Moving During COVID-19 and Beyond

Evi Cohen, Vice President, Global Life Sciences & Healthcare, Appian
May 8, 2020

COVID-19 has caused enormous disruption in the life sciences industry, putting many clinical studies on hold while accelerating others. Hundreds of studies that were halted or put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic will now require careful re-starting as sponsors look to re-initiate their clinical trials.

The rapid push for new treatments and vaccines and the re-initiation of halted studies is creating an urgent need for better process, collaboration, and connectivity across the design and execution of study protocols and amendments. Studies must accommodate and account for disruptions in patient availability and access to study sites and clinics.

Appian helps researchers adapt

Appian's Study Design and Execution Life Cycle (SDEL) solution addresses these challenges and more. It's a centralized resource that enables end-to-end visibility across all your clinical studies, from study design through execution.

With Appian SDEL, your organizations can:

    • Connect clinical documents and data, from external and internal sources

    • Capture recommendations, preparations, and conduct from protocol design meetings

    • Review and approve documents

    • Enhance team collaboration and communication

Appian SDEL helps ensure that your processes are up to date, key stakeholders have clear communications between each other, and operations are audit-ready should that occur. What's more, you'll establish a solid process for capturing decisions, so you can change protocols easily and ultimately accelerate the entire design process.

Empowering efficiency, safety, and compliance

Appian's automation helps you work more efficiently. With Appian's low-code automation platform, you'll be able to automate the initiation, kickoff, and coordination of your study design and execution, including the assignment of roles and tasks and follow-up sessions with stakeholders. Who are your key stakeholders? What external data sources will they need for decision-making? Appian's automation facilitates answers to these questions and more.

SDEL in action

Through automation, heightened visibility and transparency, Appian's SDEL helps large multinational life sciences firms navigate these details and accelerate the design, initiation, and planning phase. This involved:

    • Analyzing data from external sources

    • Documenting recommendations

    • Preparing and collecting planning meetings

    • Coordinating stakeholders and capturing their decisions

The overall solution extends the process into planning involving other stakeholders, getting budgeting information, and reviewing and finalizing initial site list suggestions. In additional phases, Appian's SDEL will facilitate the management and orchestration of protocol amendments.

Want to know more about the power of low-code automation for updating and managing treatment protocols in a rapidly changing environment? I'll share more use cases where Appian has helped life sciences organizations, plus tips on ramping up studies quickly while maintaining patient safety and regulatory requirements, in my Appian World 2020 virtual session Wednesday, May 13, at 12:00 PM EDT. If you haven't yet, sign up for Appian World 2020 today!