The biopharmaceutical industry, reeling under the pressures of low R&D productivity and increased costs of clinical development, has been looking at ways to do more with less. Clinical trial (CT) monitoring, which contributes to over 30% of trial costs, has been a major focus area in this endeavour. Chitra Lele at Sciformix looks into smart approaches to monitoring, which can reduce the need for on-site monitoring visits and source data verification (SDV).