ONCOassist has launched a clinical trial search engine with Cancer Trials Ireland, enabling often busy and under pressure oncology clinicians to access relevant, up to date tools and content at their fingertips.
The Irish company claims it has identified a huge demand for a search engine tool, from engaging with their global community of over 13,000 users across more than 170 countries, and Cancer Trials Ireland.
ONCOassist has also identified three key challenges associated with clinical trials recruitment, which will be addressed through the search engine:
- Searching for trials, with 30% of study costs being spent on recruitment.
- Referring patients for trials – only 39% of trials include contact details for specific site location.
- Awareness regarding undersubscribed trials, with 20% to 30% of trials failing because they are undersubscribed.
ONCOassist’s platform was funded by the HSE and their QIC digital innovation program. QIC is designed to open up innovation pathways through which clinicians, in collaboration with eHealth Ireland expertise, can seek seed-funding for creative digital solutions. The project was also developed in close collaboration with Cancer Trials Ireland.
“We are constantly striving to contribute to the cancer care community within Ireland and abroad, and the new clinical trials search engine does exactly that,” ONCOassist co-founder and CEO Eoin O’Carroll said in a statement. “By identifying this need we are able to collaborate with our peers to bring a solution-focused approach that is improving cancer patient care.”
The clinical trials search engine is now available across Ireland with plans to scale globally.