Clinical trials—the backbone of drug development—are finally being rewritten by digital innovation. From AI-driven design to decentralised, patient-centric models, technology is slashing timelines, cutting costs, and widening access. Yet funding for these ventures has plunged 46% in five years, just as demand for faster, smarter R&D reaches record highs. This report unpacks how startups, investors, and pharma can seize the opportunity to turn the industry’s biggest bottleneck into its most...
Clinical trials—the foundation of drug development—are being fundamentally reimagined. What was once a rigid, manual, and resource-intensive process is now entering an era of intelligent automation and patient-centric design. Artificial intelligence, data integration, and decentralised trial models are transforming how therapies move from discovery to approval, dramatically reducing timelines, costs, and patient burden.
Yet this transformation comes with a paradox: while the demand for faster, smarter, and more inclusive R&D has never been higher, investment in digital clinical trial ventures has dropped sharply—down 46% over the past five years. This contraction in funding threatens to stall innovation at the precise moment it is most needed.
Galen Growth’s latest thematic report—Clearing the Bottleneck: How Digital Innovation is Driving Clinical Trials—unpacks the data behind this shift. Leveraging HealthTech Alpha’s proprietary venture intelligence, the report identifies how startups, investors, and pharmaceutical leaders can convert the industry’s most persistent bottleneck into its most powerful accelerator.
It explores the rise of AI-driven protocol design, adaptive patient recruitment powered by real-world data, and decentralised trial models that extend participation beyond traditional sites. It also examines how venture and corporate investors—from GV to McKesson Ventures and Merck GHI—are recalibrating their portfolios toward AI-enabled technologies that boost precision, scalability, and regulatory confidence.
Clinical Trials remains one of the smallest Digital Health clusters, accounting for only 3% of global ventures.
Funding has fallen 46% over five years, even as pressure mounts to deliver faster, lower-cost R&D.
99% of 2025 funding within this cluster has gone to AI-powered ventures, underscoring a clear shift toward automation and intelligence.
17% of all digital health exits originate from clinical-trial technologies—the highest share across any category, reflecting strong acquisition interest.
Only 10% of ventures founded in the past five years have successfully reached a Series A round, revealing both opportunity and risk in a market undergoing consolidation.
Pathos • Lindus Health • N-Power Medicine • Mural Health • Paradigm • Lightship • Autonomize AI • Motivity • Transcarent • Citizen Health • SeqOne Genomics • Science Corporation • Trialbee • Merck Global Health Investment Fund (GHI) • McKesson Ventures • GV • Khosla Ventures • Lux Capital
The report is powered by HealthTech Alpha, the premier digital health intelligence platform delivering unparalleled data and insights into the evolving healthcare technology landscape. Leveraging an extensive database of over 16,000 ventures and cutting-edge analytics, HealthTech Alpha provides a data-driven foundation to analyse the critical trends shaping the future of digital health.
Designed to empower stakeholders—including investors, pharmaceutical leaders, and medical device manufacturers—HealthTech Alpha offers actionable intelligence to navigate digital transformation complexities. This collaboration ensures readers gain a comprehensive, evidence-based view of the intersection between digital health and healthcare, equipping them to identify strategic opportunities, assess market dynamics, and stay ahead in this fast-evolving industry.
Our Premium Reports are specialized reports that are only available to active users with HealthTech Alpha Pro and HealthTech Alpha Enterprise accounts and are provided at no additional cost.
Galen Growth’s proprietary platform, HealthTech Alpha, provides the data source for this report. Corporate Business Development, Business Intelligence, and Digital Health Partnership teams worldwide prefer HealthTech Alpha, the world’s most-trusted Digital Health data, intel, and insights platform. Visit https://www.healthtechalpha.com to learn more about our data or https://www.galengrowth.com research for our reports.
Founded in 2016 by Digital Health experts, Galen Growth empowers global Fortune 500 companies, institutional investors, and promising Digital Health ventures to fast track their digital health strategy to create significant financial and social values. To find out more, visit https://www.galengrowth.com
| Pages | Section | Content |
|---|---|---|
| 2–7 | Introduction | – |
| 8–21 | The Next Frontier in Efficient Drug Development | 16 charts |
| 22–29 | Ecosystem Insights | 11 charts |
| 30–39 | Investment Insights | 10 charts, 2 tables |
| 40–45 | Category Focus | 3 charts, 1 table |
| 46–50 | Therapeutic Focus | 3 charts, 1 tables |
| 51–69 | Regional Snapshots | 21 charts, 3 tables |
| 70-76 | Key Information | – |
