Oracle and AstraZeneca sign pact to explore AI for clinical trials and patient care

Oracle and AstraZeneca agreed on October 20, 2026, to explore using AI and health data to connect clinical research with everyday patient care. The non-binding agreement targets tasks such as finding potential trial participants. AstraZeneca named a first planned programme: hypertension care and clinical research in Abu Dhabi, working with healthcare company M42.

Recruitment is the starting problem

Oracle identifies patient recruitment as one of the largest obstacles in clinical trials. The companies want to test whether AI and data can help care teams find eligible patients earlier and more easily, with the aim of broadening access to studies and improving how trials run.

The proposed division of work combines AstraZeneca’s scientific, clinical-development and regulatory expertise with Oracle’s health data, cloud infrastructure, AI and clinical-workflow capabilities. The collaboration is designed to test practical ways of bringing scientific research into the systems and processes clinicians use to deliver care.

Recruitment is only one proposed use. AstraZeneca also identifies earlier diagnosis, drug-safety monitoring and evidence drawn from routine care as areas of exploration. Its stated rationale includes late diagnosis, long waits for referral and gaps between scientific advances and their use in clinical practice. These are the problems the collaboration intends to address, rather than results it has demonstrated.

A first programme in Abu Dhabi

AstraZeneca’s announcement gives the agreement a specific initial setting. The first programme will focus on hypertension care and clinical research in Abu Dhabi, in partnership with M42. It brings the proposed care and research work together around one condition, with three stated tasks for supporting clinical teams:

• Identify patients whose hypertension is uncontrolled.
• Support care that follows clinical guidelines.
• Improve recruitment for clinical trials.

The intended geographic reach extends beyond that first programme. AstraZeneca says the collaboration will involve international projects, with the US, Middle East and Europe among the key regions. It plans to work with local governments and within applicable regulations so that approaches could be scaled in the future.

The disease scope is also broad. Areas under consideration include oncology; cardiovascular, renal and metabolic diseases; respiratory and immunology; and rare diseases. Oracle describes these as initial areas that could be explored, while AstraZeneca says programmes will span its core disease areas.

AstraZeneca will not receive patient-identifiable information.

AstraZeneca, October 20 collaboration announcement

Each project faces its own approval conditions

AstraZeneca says the collaboration will use deidentified real-world data under governance, privacy and security arrangements. Each proposed project will be reviewed separately and will proceed only after appropriate legal, privacy, regulatory, ethical and institutional safeguards are in place. The agreement therefore does not give every proposed use case automatic permission to proceed.

Oracle Health and Life Sciences general manager Seema Verma also places the proposed work under the governance of the health systems delivering care. In describing the responsibilities, she says Oracle will provide the secure data, cloud, AI and clinical-workflow capabilities, while AstraZeneca contributes scientific and therapeutic expertise.

Beyond those individual reviews, Oracle says the companies plan to establish shared governance, reusable technical components and agreed measures of outcomes. Those measures are intended to assess results and help determine whether successful approaches could extend to other disease areas and geographies. Financial terms are not being disclosed.

The longer-term proposal is a continuous-learning model: insights from clinical research and routine care would help inform future study design, safety monitoring and patient care. That makes the planned work a two-way exchange, not simply a route for sending research findings to clinicians. The companies intend both settings to contribute to what comes next.