About
Trials.ai by ZS is a comprehensive AI-powered platform purpose-built for clinical study design and the modern research team. It addresses the full lifecycle of trial creation — from initial study setup and protocol design to document digitization and knowledge management — through a suite of interconnected applications and data products. At its core is Smart Designer, an intelligent application that automates and guides study construction with AI-powered recommendations, streamlining every step from setup to schedule finalization. Library Manager provides a centralized repository of reusable language and institutional knowledge, giving organizations immediate access to their collective research wisdom in contextually relevant ways. On the data side, the Clinical Studies Ontology offers 500,000+ BFO-compliant classes forming a semantic framework that connects clinical study concepts across documents and systems. The Banzai Pipeline enables rapid digitization of legacy protocols and study documents using NLP, NER, and LLMs, transforming unstructured content into structured, queryable data assets. Central to the platform is Franklin, an AI Optimization Advisor that brings together expertise in clinical science, biostatistics, regulatory strategy, and medical writing. Uniquely, Franklin focuses on improving design decisions before they are locked into protocol documents, exploring alternatives across endpoints, eligibility criteria, schedules of activities, and patient populations. Franklin is grounded in structured study data connected through Trials.ai's ontology and Dynamic Data Graph, enabling reasoning across historical trials and design patterns rather than mere text generation. Trials.ai is purpose-built for enterprise life sciences organizations seeking to bring therapies to patients faster.
Key Features
- Smart Designer: Builds complete clinical studies with intelligent automation and AI-powered recommendations, streamlining every step from study setup to schedule finalization.
- Franklin AI Optimization Advisor: A cross-functional AI advisor providing expert guidance across clinical science, biostatistics, regulatory strategy, and medical writing — optimizing design decisions before they become locked in documents.
- Banzai Pipeline: Rapidly digitizes legacy protocols and study documents using NLP, NER, and LLMs, transforming unstructured content into structured, queryable data assets.
- Clinical Studies Ontology: A 500,000+ BFO-compliant class semantic framework that connects clinical study concepts across documents and systems, enabling intelligent reasoning and data interoperability.
- Library Manager: Centralized repository of reusable language and organizational knowledge that gives research teams contextually relevant access to institutional wisdom instantly.
Use Cases
- Designing and optimizing clinical trial protocols with AI-powered recommendations across endpoints, eligibility criteria, and schedules of activities.
- Digitizing legacy clinical study documents and protocols into structured, queryable data using NLP and LLM-powered pipelines.
- Building and maintaining institutional knowledge libraries of reusable clinical language and study design patterns for research organizations.
- Evaluating tradeoffs across scientific, statistical, and regulatory dimensions before finalizing a protocol with cross-functional AI guidance.
- Accelerating clinical development timelines for life sciences companies by automating study setup, design review, and document generation workflows.
Pros
- Deep domain expertise baked in: Franklin AI integrates clinical science, biostatistics, regulatory, and medical writing expertise in a single intelligence layer, reducing reliance on siloed specialists for design decisions.
- Decisions before documents: Unlike writing-focused tools, Trials.ai helps teams explore and optimize design alternatives before they become locked into downstream protocol documents — reducing costly late-stage changes.
- Structured, grounded intelligence: Franklin reasons over a structured ontology and historical clinical trial data rather than relying on ungrounded text generation, delivering more reliable and contextually accurate insights.
- Patented, proven technology: Backed by US Patent No. 11,328,795 for intelligent planning and reporting of clinical trials, and supported by ZS's 40+ years of life sciences expertise.
Cons
- Enterprise-only pricing: Trials.ai is positioned as an enterprise solution with no publicly listed pricing or free tier, making it inaccessible to smaller research organizations or academic teams.
- Highly specialized use case: The platform is purpose-built exclusively for clinical trial design in the life sciences sector, with no applicability outside pharmaceutical or clinical research contexts.
- Implementation complexity: Onboarding legacy documents via the Banzai Pipeline and integrating the Clinical Studies Ontology may require significant setup effort and technical resources.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Franklin, and how does it help clinical teams?
Franklin is Trials.ai's AI Optimization Advisor that provides cross-functional guidance across clinical science, biostatistics, regulatory strategy, and medical writing. It helps teams explore design alternatives — such as endpoints, eligibility criteria, and schedules of activities — before they are locked into protocol documents, grounding its recommendations in structured historical trial data.
What is the Banzai Pipeline?
The Banzai Pipeline is a data ingestion tool that uses NLP, NER, and LLMs to rapidly digitize legacy clinical protocols and study documents, converting unstructured content into structured, queryable data assets that can be used across the Trials.ai platform.
What is the Clinical Studies Ontology?
It is a 500,000+ BFO-compliant class semantic framework developed by Trials.ai that creates a shared vocabulary connecting clinical study concepts across documents and systems, enabling more intelligent reasoning and data interoperability.
Who is Trials.ai designed for?
Trials.ai is designed for enterprise life sciences companies — including pharmaceutical, biotech, and clinical research organizations — that want to accelerate clinical trial design, reduce operational complexity, and improve study outcomes through AI.
What is the Patient Burden Index?
The Patient Burden Index is a patented metric (US Patent No. 11,328,795) developed by ZS and included in the Trials.ai platform that quantifies the burden placed on clinical trial patients by study design choices, helping teams optimize protocols for better patient experience and retention.
