Discovery Scaled. Delivery Didn’t. Yet.
We built innovations for the future… on the infrastructure of the past. We are living through a paradox in healthcare. We have cracked the code of biology—from gene editing to AI-driven diagnostics—yet our health systems are collapsing under the weight of inefficiency.
THE CLINICAL DECADE is a publication dedicated to solving this disconnect. We move beyond the hype of "Digital Health" to focus on the hard reality of implementation. This is the blueprint for the next era of healthcare.
The Thesis: Welcome to the era of clinical design.
The Era of Blind, Linear Development is over.
For the last ten years, we focused on Discovery (The Science), and Development (the Technology). Now, the next ten years will be defined by Delivery (The System).
To win in this new era, strategy is not enough. We need Clinical Design.
WHAT IS CLINICAL DESIGN? It is the missing discipline in Pharma and HealthTech. It is the strategic architecture required to turn biomedical innovation into:
✅ Adoption (Frictionless workflow integration). For clinicians & operators.
📊 Evidence (RWE & Health Economic validation). For regulators & payers.
🔗 Interoperability (Data liquidity & robust standards). For CIOs & tech teams.
💰 ROI (Sustainable unit economics). For CFOs & investors.
What is THE CLINICAL DECADE?
This is an industry roadmap for the transition from the Era of Hopeful Innovation (2015-2025) to the Era of Clinical Design (2026-2036).
You will not find “News” here. You will find a living blueprint, institutional-grade analysis designed for decision-makers in Pharma, MedTech, and Hospital Management.
I write about:
The Architecture of Care: How to redesign patient pathways so innovation actually sticks. How to build workflows, not just algorithms.
Policy & Foresight: Navigating the regulatory shifts in Europe and beyond.
The “Last Mile” Problem: Why startups fail in Europe vs. the US.
Real Interoperability: Moving beyond compliance to actual data liquidity.
The Holy Grail… ROI: Understanding the Unit Economics of Innovation, why pilots fail, how to engineer sustainable business models, and proven best practices.
Who reads this?
THE CLINICAL DECADE is a strategic roadmap for developers, clinicians, policymakers, doctors, hospital managers, and investors bridging the gap between biological breakthrough and patient reality.
I.e. this is for the Builders, the Translators, and the Pragmatists.
Founders & Tech Leads who want to survive “Pilot Purgatory.”
Clinicians tired of being data clerks.
Investors looking for the signal in the AI hype.
Policymakers who need to regulate the future without killing it.
About the Author
Marcos Gallego, PhD is the Editor of The Clinical Decade.
He is a Manager at Vintura, where he partners with global Life Sciences leaders to drive Value-Based Healthcare and Digital Transformation.
A Geneticist by training (PhD, Cambridge) and a Strategist by trade, Marcos has spent the last decade bridging the gap between deep science and clinical ROI. He is also an Adjunct Professor at IE University and Visiting Lecturer at UCL, teaching the next generation of leaders about the intersection of AI, Biotech, and Business.
Prefer to read via RSS? Here is the RSS Feed.
Note and disclaimer:
The Clinical Decade is an independent publication by Marcos Gallego Llorente on the practical translation of biomedical innovation into clinical reality—where strategy, policy, and digital innovation meet healthcare delivery.
This publication is also the primary home of Clinical Design—an independent teaching framework created by Marcos and developed through independent research and teaching activities (incl. IE University).
All materials published in The Clinical Decade are created independently using personal resources and tools, do not include confidential or client-specific information, and are shared as personal academic perspectives. They do not represent the views of any employer, client, or institution.
© Marcos Gallego Llorente. Unless otherwise stated, content is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.
