YonaLink, TrialJectory get $1m grant for patient recruitment tool

Two digital health companies – YonaLink and TrialJectory – have received a grant to develop a tool designed to make it easier and quicker to enrol patients into clinical trials.

The grant from the Israel-US Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation will go towards the further development of the platform, which automates the conduct of trials in a bid to reduce the cost, time, and resources used running them.

The two companies are working on ways to screen patients and connect them to clinical trial sites that eliminate manual processes involved in data management and patient enrolment.

Removing that burden could also encourage medical centres that currently don't participate in trials to get involved, according to the two partners.

It's been estimated that 80% of trials fail to recruit the required number of patients on time, a desultory performance that has been blamed on a lack of innovation among trial sponsors in their processes, which in some respects have remained little changed for decades.

New Jersey-based TrialJectory uses an artificial intelligence (AI) tool to match cancer patients with trials, provide information and support, and help them get more involved in decisions about their treatment.

It also allows sponsors to monitor, track and analyse trials, and help identify the barriers that may keep cancer patients from enrolling into studies, according to its developer, which says it can cut the time to fully enrol a study by 20%.

Meanwhile, YonaLink's AI-driven clinical trial data management platform adds real-time streaming data to the TrialJectory platform. They claim the tool allows sponsors to cut the costs of running trials by 30% and save months in data management, cleansing, and analysis.

The joint project "redesigns the clinical trial process by shifting the focus from site-oriented to patient-oriented," said the BIRD Foundation in a statement.

"In December 2013, I was diagnosed with malignant melanoma," said Tzvia Bader, chief executive and co-founder of TrialJectory.

"After participating in three clinical trials, I quickly learned that the way in which patients gain access to advanced treatments through clinical trials is completely broken," she added.

"Through this grant and our partnership with YonaLink, we will be able to continue with our mission and drive the patient-first approach to the way clinical trials are running."