A Dublin-based tech start-up has launched Wirano – a digital platform for the rapid and effective organisation of clinical trials.

The platform aims to revolutionise the activities involved in clinical trials by accelerating start-up of trials, optimising patient recruitment, and improving site and investigator selection processes.

Noel Quinn, commercial director, said: "The enormous cost of clinical trials in terms of time, money and effort is well known. The average clinical trial process lasts between 7.5 and 12 years with costs ranging from $161 million - $2.6 billion per drug. Yet in spite of this investment, the success rate of clinical trials is just 14%. Wirano aims to improve this rate of success by optimising the patient recruitment process, improving site selection procedures and creating reliable channels for effective communications between all participants."

One of the major challenges is searching for and selecting patients for trials – which is why 50% of all planned trials do not achieve recruitment targets on time. Up to 11% of all trials do not recruit a single patient. In addition, the organisers of clinical trials often find it difficult to select a research centre with reliable data on previous experience and patient enrolment. The lack of a single database of centres from different countries and the absence of effective and reliable communication channels with research teams further aggravate the situation. Wirano is designed to allow all participants of clinical trials, including pharmaceutical companies, medical researchers, and patients to effectively communicate throughout the process.

Wirano is the brainchild of a team of international experts in the area of clinical research and is based in Dublin. The project has completed pre-seed financing and is currently seeking investors.