Challenge
A leading clinical research organization (CRO) faced significant inefficiencies in managing clinical trial budgets for pharmaceutical sponsors and research sites. The process relied heavily on Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, homegrown systems, and outdated third-party tools for historical cost data. This fragmented approach created multiple pain points:
- Budget creation and negotiation were cumbersome and time-consuming
- Pricing data was controlled by a small number of legacy providers, leaving research sites without access to the same information available to sponsors. This made budget negotiations fundamentally one-sided
- Sponsors faced pressure to structure budgets carefully to avoid any perception of financial influence over trial outcomes
- The entire negotiation process happened through email and spreadsheet exchanges
Mural Health, whose core business focused on payments to clinical trial participants, recognized an opportunity to solve this industry-wide problem. They envisioned a comprehensive software platform that would streamline budgeting, provide better pricing data, and create transparency for all stakeholders. However, they lacked the internal development resources to transform this vision into reality.
Solution
Chariot Solutions partnered with Mural Health from the earliest stages of product development, engaging before detailed specifications existed. The team worked closely with Mural’s CEO, COO, and key stakeholders to turn the product vision into working software.
Development Approach
- Early Partnership: Chariot joined during the initial design phase, working alongside design partners from O3 World to bring the product vision to life
- Structured Iteration: The platform was built through a disciplined process of defining requirements, building, and refining, adapting as the product evolved without sacrificing quality
- Immediate Team, Long-Term Transition: Mural needed a development team and needed one fast. Chariot provided experienced engineers from day one. As the product matured and proved out, it made sense for Mural to begin building their own internal team, a transition Chariot actively supported
- Technology Stack: Golang for server-side development, React-based JavaScript frontend, Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure, integration with CPT code databases and pricing data APIs
Key Platform Features
- Budget Creation & Management: Streamlined interface for creating clinical trial budgets with line-item tracking
- Real-Time Pricing Data: Integration with healthcare transparency data from the Transparency in Coverage Act, providing current hospital and provider pricing
- CPT (Current Procedural Terminology) Code Integration: Licensed American Medical Association (AMA) database for procedure codes with search functionality
- Negotiation Workflow: Software-based negotiation process replacing email and spreadsheet exchanges
Strategic AI Integration
This project demonstrates that AI reaches its full potential when paired with experienced developers who can direct it effectively. Early in the engagement, the team experimented with using AI to convert requirements text directly into a data model, then generate code from that model. It wasn’t a formal plan, it was an experiment that worked. From there, the team organically embraced AI across more and more of the development process.
One concrete example: a Mural team member used AI tools to rapidly prototype a budget forecasting concept. Rather than deploying that prototype to production, Chariot’s developer took the working concept, rewrote it in optimized Golang, deployed it to AWS, and maintained the same API. AI was used to efficiently rewrite the concept to prototype.
Results:
- Accelerated Timeline: Reached first user acceptance testing (UAT) in approximately 7 months
- Client Satisfaction: The primary CRO partner consistently noted that Chariot moved significantly faster than they expected
- Scalable Foundation: Built a platform capable of supporting multiple CROs and research sites
- Market Position: Gave Mural Health the technical foundation to compete in a space long dominated by legacy providers with entrenched data advantages
Key Takeaways
- Vision Over Domain Expertise: Deep industry knowledge wasn’t necessary to deliver value — thorough listening, questioning, and understanding the business problem proved more critical
- Communication as Technology: Success came from excellent communication practices, not just technical prowess
- Small Teams, Enterprise Results: Nimble teams collaborating effectively can outpace traditional enterprise development
- AI as Power Tool: Like giving a skilled roofer a nail gun, AI tools amplify expert developers’ capabilities without replacing the need for expertise. The Chariot team started with ChatGPT then added Claude, as Claude Code tools got better. They also occasionally mixed in AWS Kiro and Gemini.
- Partnership Built for Independence: Early involvement, collaborative hiring support, and a clear path to internal ownership made this a partnership designed to build capability, not dependency
“We listen to requirements, we ask questions, we try to understand the problem. As technology experts, we’re able to build a solution based on what the client needs solved, and we work on iterating that. It comes down to communication.”
Conclusion
The Mural Health project demonstrates how the right development partner can transform an ambitious healthcare technology vision into reality. Even in a complex, regulated industry like clinical trials. By combining technical expertise, strong communication, and a pragmatic approach to AI, Chariot Solutions helped Mural Health build a platform poised to bring long-overdue transparency to pharmaceutical trial budgeting.