Pharma data scientist develops Clear Trial through University of Salford’s BUILD AI programme
A pharmaceutical data scientist is developing an AI platform designed to streamline clinical trials and help new medicines reach patients faster.
Rahul Ayyappan has spent eight years working in pharmaceutical research and data science, including at Eli Lilly, where he saw first-hand the complexity involved in managing the huge volumes of data generated during clinical trials.
He is now developing Clear Trial, an AI-powered platform designed to streamline clinical trial data and help prepare it in the formats required by regulators.
Rahul believes the technology has the potential to shorten parts of the clinical trial process by three to six months, potentially reducing associated costs by 30 to 40% and ultimately helping new treatments reach patients sooner.
He accelerated the development of Clear Trial through the University of Salford’s six-week BUILD AI programme, taking it from an early, relatively unstructured proposition to a working MVP, website and product demonstration.
Rahul is now working with potential users to gather feedback, refine Clear Trial and strengthen its security ahead of launch.
He said: “BUILD AI didn’t just help me build a better product. It gave me the confidence to believe that a single idea, backed by the right support and a clear vision, really can become something capable of making a difference to millions of people waiting for the next generation of life-saving medicines.”
Rahul was among 12 entrepreneurs and SME leaders taking part in BUILD AI, which has already helped take four products to launch or near-launch, put six working prototypes into testing and accelerated two existing technology ventures.
BUILD AI (Business Uplift, Innovation and Lean Development through Artificial Intelligence) was developed by the University of Salford’s Centre for Sustainable Innovation (CSI) and delivered in collaboration with NoCodeLab.ai.
The programme combined hands-on AI development with commercialisation support and mentoring, helping participants rapidly build and test their ideas while exploring how they could become viable products and businesses.
Dr Ann Mulhaney, Associate Professor for Change Management at the University of Salford’s Centre for Sustainable Innovation, said: “When we created BUILD AI, we wanted to open up AI development to people with brilliant ideas but who might never have thought of themselves as tech builders. These entrepreneurs know their businesses, their industries and the problems they want to solve inside out. What they haven’t always had are the technical skills or resources to turn that knowledge into a product. We wanted to change that.
“In just six weeks they’ve built working products, tested ideas with real customers, launched new solutions and taken businesses forward at incredible speed. That’s what excites me about AI. Put these tools into the hands of talented, ambitious people, give them the right support and confidence, and it’s amazing what they can build.”
Participants are now taking their innovations into the next stage, fr