30% of Clinical Trial Data Doesn't Inform Decisions
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- Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development and TransCelerate published research in December 2025 finding that nearly 30% of data collected in clinical trials does not directly inform key decisions, yet patients are still asked to provide it.
- Since 2005, the number of procedures per protocol has increased by nearly 140%, with endpoints rising more than 200% and total data points collected increasing over 600%.
- The author, who works with heads of R&D from 18 of the world's largest pharma companies, argues the industry's "more is better" approach to data collection is fundamentally undermining trials rather than improving them.
- The clinical research ecosystem has grown technologically capable but increasingly burdened by its own ambition, per the piece, creating friction for both trial sponsors and patients.
- The core critique is procedural, not technological: excess data collection wastes patient time, inflates protocol complexity, and dilutes the signal from the data points that actually drive decisions.
Why it matters: If 30% of clinical trial data is non-decisional, the burden falls disproportionately on patients — who provide data that may never matter — and on trial sponsors footing the cost of collecting it. With procedures up 140% and data points up 600% since 2005, trial complexity is compounding faster than the ecosystem's ability to run studies efficiently, raising the stakes for protocol simplification efforts backed by 18 major pharma R&D leaders.
