Impact of AI on Clinical Development

PSI Introduction to Industry Training (ITIT) Course - 2026/2027

An introductory course giving an overview of the pharmaceutical industry and the drug development process as a whole, aimed at those with 1-3 years' experience. It comprises of six 2-day sessions covering a range of topics including Research and Development, Toxicology, Data Management and the Role of a CRO, Clinical Trials, Reimbursement, and Marketing.

Joint PSI/EFSPI Visualisation SIG 'Wonderful Wednesday' Webinars

Our monthly webinar explores examples of innovative data visualisations relevant to our day to day work. Each month a new dataset is provided from a clinical trial or other relevant example, and participants are invited to submit a graphic that communicates interesting and relevant characteristics of the data.

AIMS SIG - Open-Source Lunch Bites

Our monthly webinar series allows attendees to gain practical knowledge and skills in open-source coding and tools, with a focus on applications in the pharmaceutical industry. This month’s session, “Graphics Basics,” will introduce the fundamentals of producing graphics using the ggplot2 package.

Connecting the False Discovery Rate to Shrunk Estimates

A 1 hour online event, that includes a presentation followed by Q&A. This talk will explore the “replication crisis” in science, focusing on how testing large numbers of hypotheses can lead to false positive findings. It introduces key statistical approaches—False Discovery Rate (FDR) and shrinkage methods—to address this issue, and explains their conceptual foundations and connections. The session will also highlight how these tools can be understood within an empirical-Bayesian framework, linking significance testing with effect size estimation.

PSI Career Young Virtual Event (Q2 2026)

This networking event is aimed at statisticians that are new to the pharmaceutical industry who wish to meet colleagues from different companies and backgrounds.

PSI Book Club: The AI Con – Joint with ASA Book Club

The Guardian described the authors of this book as refreshingly sarcastic! What is sold to us as AI, they announce, is just "a bill of goods": "A few major well-placed players are poised to accumulate significant wealth by extracting value from other people's creative work, personal data, or labour, and replacing quality services with artificial facsimiles."

PSI Book Club: Another Door Opens – Book Club Special Event

This is a Book Club Special Event in response to the changes in our industry and as a supportive move to create community and connection for those navigating redundancy and uncertainty. Read the book in advance of the book club session then join the zoom call to discuss ideas. There will be breakout groups to connect with others, exchange experiences of how the book has helped, and offer support.

PSI Book Club: Change: How organisations achieve hard-to-image results in uncertain and volatile times

Organizations have to adapt to the transforming landscape of our industry to ensure they continue to be successful in the future. Many of us are feeling the impact of organizational change. By reading John P Kotter’s book we can understand about organizational change and learn how to thrive, rather than just survive, through change. Change, by John P Kotter (and his team), is a summary of all that he has learned over his decades of research and leading change. His book describes why many current approaches to change are inadequate and explains why new solutions need to give people a voice and a role in a new, change-embracing organization. Develop your understanding of organisational change and become empowered to be part of your organisation’s change, by reading Change by John P Kotter and joining the Sept-Dec 2025 book club. You will be invited to join facilitated discussions of the concepts and ideas and apply knowledge from the book in-between sessions.

PSI Career Young Virtual Event (Q3 2026)

This networking event is aimed at statisticians that are new to the pharmaceutical industry who wish to meet colleagues from different companies and backgrounds.

PSI Career Young Virtual Event (Q4 2026)

This networking event is aimed at statisticians that are new to the pharmaceutical industry who wish to meet colleagues from different companies and backgrounds.

Time	Agenda
09:00 - 09:30	Registration and Coffee
09:30 - 9:45	Welcome Karim Malki, Head, Predictive Analytics, UCB
09:45 - 10:45	Understanding activity patterns through wearable devices and AI algorithms Chris Holmes, Professor of Biostatistics in Genomics in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine and the Department of Statistics, University of Oxford
10:45 - 11:30	Why statisticians should be driving machine learning and AI projects Dr Moira Verbelen, Principal Statistician, UCB
11:30 - 11:45	Break
11:45 – 12:30	The need for data science in the new clinical development paradigm Francis Kendall, Senior Director, Biostatistics and Programming, Cytel
12:30 - 13:30	Lunch and Networking
13:30 - 14:15	Technology Showcase Dr Bhushan Bonde, Head of IT - NewMeds Innovation Development, UCB
14:15 - 15:00	Predicting Crohn's disease risk in asymptomatic relatives Dr Ken Hanscombe, Research Associate at King’s College London
15:00 - 15:15	Coffee Break
15:15 - 16:00	Roche's experience developing Advanced Analytics Communities both internally and externally Chris Harbron, Expert Statistical Scientist, Roche
16:00 – 16:45	Panel Discussion
16:45 – 17:00	Closing Remarks
17:00 – 18:00	Drinks Reception and Networking

UCB	Technology Showcase Abstract: This will be a technical demonstration highlighting some of the latest technology available for performing machine learning and other high intensity computational tasks, including a demonstration of Intel’s portable neural compute stick and a look at how new advances, such as quantum computing, will change the technological landscape.
Chris Holmes (University of Oxford)	Understanding activity patterns through wearable devices and AI algorithms Abstract: New measurement technologies such as wearable devices coupled with AI algorithms, that can learn from large scale streaming data, have the potential for improved evaluation and monitoring of treatment interventions. In this talk we review the prospect for AI to better characterise population activity variation through wearable tech including an analysis of accelerometer data from 100,000 participants in UK BioBank.
Frances Kendall (Cytel)	The need for Data Science in the New Clinical Development Paradigm Abstract: This talk will set the stage on why Data Science is needed to support a New Clinical Development paradigm and what are the drivers of change. It will then put forward an idea on what that Paradigm could look like with examples of work that demonstrate this direction.
Moira Verbelen (UCB)	Why statisticians should be driving machine learning and AI projects Abstract: Advancements in computer science have popularised the widespread use of machine learning and AI. Although methods were mainly developed by computer and data scientists, they are rooted in statistical science. Statisticians are ideally placed to guide the implementation of these ‘new’ approaches in pharma. In-depth understanding of statistical concepts and model fitting are essential skills required to avoid pitfalls such as poor algorithm design, overfitting and incorrect interpretation of results. These considerations and the ensuing value of statisticians’ involvement are even more important in clinical development, where datasets tend to be smaller than those typically used for AI.
Ken Hanscombe (King’s College London)	Predicting Crohn's disease risk in asymptomatic relatives Abstract: An application of elastic net and random forest classifiers to Crohn’s disease (CD) risk in asymptomatic first-degree relatives (FDRs) of CD patients, using multiple environmental and genetic predictors.
Chris Harbron (Roche)	Roche's experience developing Advanced Analytics Communities both internally and externally Abstract: Roche has been successful in building an internal advanced analytics community consisting of over 750 data scientists from across the global Roche organization as well as establishing a number of external advanced analytics partnerships. This talk will discuss how Roche have approached this effort as well highlighting some of the successes and challenges, including crowd sourcing the internal community to tackle key scientific research questions using machine learning.

Time	Agenda
09:00 - 09:30	Registration and Coffee
09:30 - 9:45	Welcome Karim Malki, Head, Predictive Analytics, UCB
09:45 - 10:45	Understanding activity patterns through wearable devices and AI algorithms Chris Holmes, Professor of Biostatistics in Genomics in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine and the Department of Statistics, University of Oxford
10:45 - 11:30	Why statisticians should be driving machine learning and AI projects Dr Moira Verbelen, Principal Statistician, UCB
11:30 - 11:45	Break
11:45 – 12:30	The need for data science in the new clinical development paradigm Francis Kendall, Senior Director, Biostatistics and Programming, Cytel
12:30 - 13:30	Lunch and Networking
13:30 - 14:15	Technology Showcase Dr Bhushan Bonde, Head of IT - NewMeds Innovation Development, UCB
14:15 - 15:00	Predicting Crohn's disease risk in asymptomatic relatives Dr Ken Hanscombe, Research Associate at King’s College London
15:00 - 15:15	Coffee Break
15:15 - 16:00	Roche's experience developing Advanced Analytics Communities both internally and externally Chris Harbron, Expert Statistical Scientist, Roche
16:00 – 16:45	Panel Discussion
16:45 – 17:00	Closing Remarks
17:00 – 18:00	Drinks Reception and Networking

UCB	Technology Showcase Abstract: This will be a technical demonstration highlighting some of the latest technology available for performing machine learning and other high intensity computational tasks, including a demonstration of Intel’s portable neural compute stick and a look at how new advances, such as quantum computing, will change the technological landscape.
Chris Holmes (University of Oxford)	Understanding activity patterns through wearable devices and AI algorithms Abstract: New measurement technologies such as wearable devices coupled with AI algorithms, that can learn from large scale streaming data, have the potential for improved evaluation and monitoring of treatment interventions. In this talk we review the prospect for AI to better characterise population activity variation through wearable tech including an analysis of accelerometer data from 100,000 participants in UK BioBank.
Frances Kendall (Cytel)	The need for Data Science in the New Clinical Development Paradigm Abstract: This talk will set the stage on why Data Science is needed to support a New Clinical Development paradigm and what are the drivers of change. It will then put forward an idea on what that Paradigm could look like with examples of work that demonstrate this direction.
Moira Verbelen (UCB)	Why statisticians should be driving machine learning and AI projects Abstract: Advancements in computer science have popularised the widespread use of machine learning and AI. Although methods were mainly developed by computer and data scientists, they are rooted in statistical science. Statisticians are ideally placed to guide the implementation of these ‘new’ approaches in pharma. In-depth understanding of statistical concepts and model fitting are essential skills required to avoid pitfalls such as poor algorithm design, overfitting and incorrect interpretation of results. These considerations and the ensuing value of statisticians’ involvement are even more important in clinical development, where datasets tend to be smaller than those typically used for AI.
Ken Hanscombe (King’s College London)	Predicting Crohn's disease risk in asymptomatic relatives Abstract: An application of elastic net and random forest classifiers to Crohn’s disease (CD) risk in asymptomatic first-degree relatives (FDRs) of CD patients, using multiple environmental and genetic predictors.
Chris Harbron (Roche)	Roche's experience developing Advanced Analytics Communities both internally and externally Abstract: Roche has been successful in building an internal advanced analytics community consisting of over 750 data scientists from across the global Roche organization as well as establishing a number of external advanced analytics partnerships. This talk will discuss how Roche have approached this effort as well highlighting some of the successes and challenges, including crowd sourcing the internal community to tackle key scientific research questions using machine learning.

Time	Agenda
09:00 - 09:30	Registration and Coffee
09:30 - 9:45	Welcome Karim Malki, Head, Predictive Analytics, UCB
09:45 - 10:45	Understanding activity patterns through wearable devices and AI algorithms Chris Holmes, Professor of Biostatistics in Genomics in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine and the Department of Statistics, University of Oxford
10:45 - 11:30	Why statisticians should be driving machine learning and AI projects Dr Moira Verbelen, Principal Statistician, UCB
11:30 - 11:45	Break
11:45 – 12:30	The need for data science in the new clinical development paradigm Francis Kendall, Senior Director, Biostatistics and Programming, Cytel
12:30 - 13:30	Lunch and Networking
13:30 - 14:15	Technology Showcase Dr Bhushan Bonde, Head of IT - NewMeds Innovation Development, UCB
14:15 - 15:00	Predicting Crohn's disease risk in asymptomatic relatives Dr Ken Hanscombe, Research Associate at King’s College London
15:00 - 15:15	Coffee Break
15:15 - 16:00	Roche's experience developing Advanced Analytics Communities both internally and externally Chris Harbron, Expert Statistical Scientist, Roche
16:00 – 16:45	Panel Discussion
16:45 – 17:00	Closing Remarks
17:00 – 18:00	Drinks Reception and Networking

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