Innovation awards finalist: One Search identifies the right sites for clinical trials

Two of the biggest challenges facing those conducting clinical trials are selecting the best location to hold the trial (typically a hospital) and recruiting an appropriate cohort of patients as trial subjects. Also important is identifying quality investigators (usually doctors) to lead the trial. But as potential sites, investigators and patients are scattered worldwide, picking the right combination is not easy.

Those paying for these trials, usually pharma companies, want them to be successful and finished on time. But about 10 per cent of trials are terminated while 30 per cent of sites fail to meet their patient enrolment goals.

Cancellations and delays are costly so a more efficient way of selecting the best combination of site, patient cohort and investigator was needed. This is where One Search, developed by healthcare intelligence company Icon, fits in.

“One Search helps identify the right sites first time,” says Gerard Quinn, vice-president of innovation and informatics. “It integrates and analyses billions of data points and trillions of data connections, and uses human insight and artificial intelligence to identify the best sites based on our industry knowledge.

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“For the first time One Search provides the industry with the capability to instantaneously view, review, and propose investigators and institutions from a single platform aided by machine learning algorithms that rank countries, investigators and institutions. One Search also leverages key patient data to determine how connected an investigator is to target patient populations.”

One Search is an Irish Times Innovation awards finalist in the Life Science & Healthcare category sponsored by Science Foundation Ireland.