Today marks the official launch of the European Clinical Trials Information Network (ClinicalTrials.EU) across Europe.
Designed with patients in mind, ClinicalTrials.EU aims to solve one of the major challenges in medical and pharmaceutical research – finding the right patients for clinical trials. The platform achieves this by making clinical trials more accessible and providing up-to-date, comprehensive information in seven European languages.
There are currently over 15,500 clinical trials registered in Europe in either pre-recruitment or recruitment phases. However, up to 80 percent of these trials will encounter difficulties in securing or retaining a sufficient number of participants, leading to delays, increased costs, or even project abandonment. On the other hand, 86% of potential patients remain overlooked by traditional recruitment strategies. ClinicalTrials.EU bridges this gap by providing researchers and patients with a reliable platform, aggregating data from both public and private sources and presenting it in a patient-friendly manner.
Dr Łukasz Izbicki, the founder of ClinicalTrials.EU and creator of Farmacja.net Group (acquired by IQVIA in 2023), stated: “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 added, “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.”
Recruiting patients for clinical trials is traditionally a slow and expensive process, with researchers relying on existing databases or doctor referrals. This often leaves out many suitable participants. ClinicalTrials.EU seeks to change this by giving patients control and allowing them to find relevant trials through AI pre-screening, enabling researchers to find more suitable participants.
The platform accelerates the recruitment process, allowing trials to be carried out more quickly and bringing new therapies to market faster. Additionally, it facilitates decentralised trials, where most or all research activities can take place remotely, from the patient’s home. This is particularly beneficial for those who are unable to travel for clinical trials.
Although this approach is new to Europe, it already represents around 25% of the clinical trials market in the United States, due to the convenience it offers patients, cost savings for sponsors, and the streamlined recruitment process.
The European clinical trials market was valued at over USD 6 billion in 2023, and it is expected to grow to USD 9.6 billion by 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of 7% from 2024 to 2029.
During its beta phase, ClinicalTrials.EU received significant industry backing. It is now partnered with NORD, the US Rare Disease Organisation, and is part of the EU Cross Border Clinical Trials Initiative (EU-X-CT), a collaboration between the EU Parliament and EFPICA. Additionally, it is working with several Patient Advocacy Groups, the Polish Medical Research Agency, and academic institutions on non-commercial trials, as well as collaborating commercially with Sponsors, CROs, and Sites.
Dr Izbicki remarked: “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 added, “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.”
