HHS and ARPA-H Launch "SURPASS" Program to Revolutionize Clinical Trials with AI

HHS and ARPA-H Launch "SURPASS" Program to Revolutionize Clinical Trials with AI
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and ARPA-H have officially launched SURPASS, a multi-year federal initiative designed to drastically accelerate clinical trials and reduce drug development costs using artificial intelligence.
The program aims to overhaul traditional drug development—which currently averages over a decade in timeline and $2 billion in cost per approved drug, with a failure rate exceeding 90%.
SURPASS will evaluate and test innovative frameworks including:
* "Phaseless" Trial Designs: Adaptive methodologies utilizing significantly smaller patient cohorts.
* Real-Time Analytics: Continuous monitoring and evaluation while active trials are underway.
* Operational Automation: Streamlining administrative hurdles to minimize execution delays.
Selected development teams will receive multi-year funding and direct collaboration support, with regulatory input from the FDA. ARPA-H projects that successfully scaling these AI-driven frameworks could eventually slash total development timelines by 50% or more while cutting costs by up to 10x.