HHS launches new clinical trials program for drug development

The Department of Health and Human Services announced a new clinical trials program through the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, or ARPA-H, that is designed to evaluate drugs and biologics faster, at lower cost and with fewer participants. HHS said the Simulation-augmented, Real-time Platform Adaptive Seamless Trials program, or SURPASS, will combine predictive computational models, shared trial infrastructure, common control groups and real-time analysis to make decision making more efficient. HHS and ARPA-H also announced three complimentary projects that would help create more domestic clinical sites, support efficient trial enrollment, establish the architecture for nationwide data infrastructure, and foster patient empowerment and care navigation.