Last Updated on: 25th September 2024, 07:25 pm
The European Clinical Trials Information Network (ClinicalTrials.EU) has announced its official rollout throughout Europe today.
The patient-focused platform seeks to tackle one of the greatest challenges in medical and pharmaceutical research – finding suitable patients for trials. It aims to achieve this by giving patients easier access to clinical trials and providing them with up-to-date, comprehensive information in seven European languages.
Currently, over 15,500 clinical trials in Europe are in the pre-recruitment or recruitment stages, but up to 80 percent face difficulties in securing or maintaining sufficient patient participation, leading to delays, higher costs, or project abandonment. Conversely, 86% of patients remain outside the traditional recruitment methods for clinical trials. ClinicalTrials.EU offers a trustworthy bridge between researchers and patients, compiling data from both public and private sources and presenting it in an engaging and easily understood manner.
Founder, Dr Łukasz Izbicki, who previously founded Farmacja.net Group (acquired by IQVIA last year), commented on the project: “Our mission at ClinicalTrials is simple. To connect research centres actively working on rare and serious diseases and illnesses with patients actively seeking appropriate therapies and create ‘Clinical Trials: Easily Understood’.”
He continued, “Until now there has been no single place where both parties could meet with confidence and find comprehensive information in a number of different languages. This has been a huge barrier in the development of treatments, as often, the absolute numbers of patients for rare diseases might be very small and geographically diverse and it can be challenging to locate and engage with them. As many as 80% of trials face challenges with patient recruitment.”
Traditionally, recruiting patients for clinical trials has been inefficient and costly, with researchers often relying on existing databases or referrals from doctors, which can mean many potential participants miss out on appropriate trials. ClinicalTrials.EU seeks to change this by giving patients control and allowing them to find suitable treatments using AI pre-screening technology. Researchers, in turn, gain access to patients who are more likely to be suitable for their studies.
By speeding up the recruitment process, trials can be conducted more quickly, and innovative therapies can reach the market faster. This model also supports decentralised trials, where much or all of the research can take place at the patient’s home. This is especially valuable for individuals unable to travel for participation in trials due to geographical constraints.
Although this model has only recently appeared in Europe, it already accounts for nearly 25% of the clinical trial market in the United States, due to the convenience it offers patients, savings for sponsors, and easier recruitment processes.
The European market for clinical trials was valued at more than USD 6 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow to USD 9.6 billion by 2029, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7% from 2024 to 2029.
During its beta phase, the platform gained substantial industry support. ClinicalTrials.EU is now a key player in the market, partnering with NORD, the US Rare Disease Organization, and participating in the EU Cross Border Clinical Trials Initiative (EU-X-CT), a joint project of the EU Parliament and EFPICA. It also collaborates with several Patient Advocacy Groups, works with the Polish Medical Research Agency, and partners with academic institutions on non-commercial trials. It also works commercially with Sponsors, CROs, and Sites.
Dr Izbicki added: “We are excited at the amount of traction we have already seen prior to a formal rollout. And this is just the start! Currently, we aggregate data for the database from publicly available sources, we have enabled individual sponsors and research centres to post information about their projects on the platform. We have acquired the first commercial customers in this area and we are seeing huge interest in this area.”
He further explained, “By the end of the year, we plan to start working with the 30 largest CROs (Contract Research Organisations) globally, which represent around 10 percent of the clinical trials market. Our mission is to increase access to clinical trials for patients who, for various reasons, are not treated as effectively as they could be.”
Prof Wojciech Fendler, Head of the Polish Medical Research Agency, concluded: “Clinical trials are critical for developing new therapies, and the success of recruitment depends on providing both patients and researchers with a unified platform as ClinicalTrials.eu that facilitates access to information and collaboration, which until now has been scattered across various sources.”
