WIAS Top Runners’ Lecture Collection
“Investing in AI: Clinical Trial Efficiency and Market Reaction”（Feb. 18）
Program
13:10～15:10 ”Investing in AI: Clinical Trial Efficiency and Market Reaction” by Professor Sean Cao
While artificial intelligence (AI) is heralded as a panacea, we still grapple with the optimal ways to harness its potential. Using project-level clinical trial data, we find that pharmaceutical firms’ AI investment, on average, does not improve trial efficiency or financial prospects. We identify the contexts where AI adds value and when it does not. Overall, complementary human expertise, balanced regulation, and optimization objective clarity are critical for realizing AI’s potential. When these factors come together, AI can improve efficiency and financial prospects of clinical trials, which in turn enhances social welfare. Our analysis addresses an emerging question: not whether firms should adopt AI, but how they can do so effectively.
(Please click here to see further information of this paper.)
Speaker
Sean Cao (Associate Professor, University of Maryland)
Biography CV
Date&Time
February 18, 2026 (Wed.) 13:10 – 15:10
Venue
Room 710, 7th Floor, Building 19, Waseda Campus, Waseda University
Prospected Audience
Students, Graduate students, Faculty members, Research members
Language
English
Organizer
Waseda Institute for Advanced Study (WIAS)
Co-Organizer
Research Institute of Business Administration, Faculty of Commerce, Waseda University
Registration
Pre-registration not required
