Five gold rings that shaped clinical operations in 2025

Ricky Lakhani, Chief Product Officer

Discover Pharma recently featured insights from Ricky Lakhani, Chief Product Officer at PHARMASEAL, in an article by Liza Law examining the “five gold rings” that shaped clinical operations in 2025. The piece reflects on how evolving standards, data interoperability, and collaboration are redefining the future of clinical trials.

Like the five gold rings in the Christmas carol, 2025 highlighted the core elements the life sciences industry is holding onto as it adapts to economic pressure: efficiency, standards, data, collaboration, and resilience.

Ricky Lakhani, chief product officer at PHARMASEAL, reflects on a year that tested the life sciences industry’s ability to adapt while continuing to > move forward.

2025 has undoubtedly been a testing year for the life sciences industry. We navigated a tangible slowdown in investment, forcing organisations globally to make difficult decisions. The mandate has been clear: streamline costs and discover innovative ways to drive efficiency with fewer resources. Yet, amidst these constraints, our industry’s commitment to progress has not wavered.

Significant strides were made in standardisation, most notably with the official unveiling of the TMF Standard Model. This long-awaited evolution from the “Reference Model” marks a critical shift toward true interoperability, with the industry now preparing for its full release and the retirement of the previous version in 2027. Simultaneously, initiatives like Digital Data Flow (DDF) and the Unified Study Definitions Model (USDM) saw further advancements this year, moving us closer to a fully automated, data-driven ecosystem that reduces manual burden—a crucial necessity for maximising the value of Artificial Intelligence (AI) going forward.

For PHARMASEAL, this year has been a testament to the power of collaboration. We have partnered more closely than ever with our customers, letting their evolving needs drive our roadmap to deliver immediate, high-impact value. We also expanded our ecosystem by welcoming new technology partners, reinforcing our strategy to position Engility not just as a platform, but as the core, central component of trial management. By centralising control and data, we are empowering companies to run clinical research with the agility and “engility” required, regardless of external economic pressures.

Stay tuned for the second feature, Hopes and Predictions for 2026, exploring what lies ahead for clinical operations.