Despite spiralling drug development costs and timelines spawning industry-wide efficiency drives, tackling the multibillion-dollar problem of adherence has remained an untapped opportunity – until now. Advances in digital technologies are ushering in a new dawn in clinical trial adherence, promising to save time and money while improving patient experience and safety. Solutions such as connected smart packaging and data analytics are more accurate, more efficient, and more robust than traditional methods of compliance monitoring, such as pill counts, blood sampling, or self-reporting. Bernard Vrijens at AARDEX Group looks at the scale and impact of the problem, why traditional methods of monitoring are not up to the job, and how organisations are using digital technologies to finally overcome the age-old problem of adherence in clinical trials.