AI is not eliminating clinical trial budget analyst roles - it is changing them. As protocol-to-budget automation improves, the profession is increasingly dividing into two distinct paths: reviewers who validate AI-generated budgets and strategists who focus on FMV, negotiations, country-specific costs, and stakeholder management.
Understanding UK clinical trial budgets starts with the time-based costing model. Unlike fixed-fee systems, each procedure is broken down by staff role and time allocation, often resulting in multiple line items for a single activity. Combined with mandatory uplifts such as indirect costs, capacity building, and Market Forces Factor (MFF), this structure can significantly increase the true cost per patient compared to initial estimates.
A practical, non-clinical guide to reading clinical trial protocols for budgeting. Learn what matters, what to ignore, and how to extract the information needed to build accurate site budgets.
