Every year, promising clinical trials are delayed or cancelled not because of science or funding, but because of recruitment. Despite decades of innovation in medicine, finding and enrolling eligible patients remains one of the most persistent and costly barriers in clinical research.
While many in the industry have accepted this as an unfortunate reality, one company is proving it doesn’t have to be. Clinrol, an AI-agentic powered patient engagement platform, is rethinking how trials are run and who gets access.
A problem close to home
Clinrol’s story began during the pandemic. One of the founders was trying to help a relative enrol in a trial, only to be met with a frustrating mix of outdated websites, overwhelming medical jargon and disconnected phone calls. Despite the growing number of digital tools and trial registries, the journey was fragmented and difficult to navigate. Meanwhile, research sites were equally overwhelmed, relying on spreadsheets, underperforming outreach campaigns and limited staff.
What was missing was a platform that could bridge both sides of the equation: patients and researchers, with clarity, speed and care. So in 2020, Clinrol was founded to build a better way to match patients with trials using modern technology and real-world empathy.
Built for real-world research
Clinrol is designed to make recruitment smarter, faster and more inclusive. At its core is a platform that automates patient identification, pre-screening and referrals. This frees research teams from manual admin and helps patients understand and engage with trial opportunities more confidently.
The platform uses intelligent matching algorithms to identify participants based on location, eligibility and study criteria. Once matched, patients are guided through a personalised journey with simple language, mobile-friendly forms and real-time updates. Outreach is delivered through email, SMS or AI-powered voice calls. A human support team manages follow-ups and warm handovers to research sites.
This hybrid model of automation and live support has proven especially valuable in studies involving complex screening or protocol design. Since launch, Clinrol has supported over 100 clinical trials across 12 countries and delivered more than 200,000 referrals. Therapeutic areas include oncology, diabetes, neurology, respiratory disease, dermatology and women’s health. Research sites using Clinrol report two to four times higher conversion rates and significantly faster time to enrolment.
From recruitment to retention and engagement
Clinrol is not stopping at recruitment. The platform is now expanding to support ongoing patient engagement and retention. The goal is to offer an all-in-one solution that helps keep participants informed, supported and compliant throughout the entire study journey.
Clinrol is building features that allow patients to schedule and manage their study visits, receive reminders for upcoming appointments, medication dosing and lab procedures, and complete electronic patient-reported outcomes. Participants will also be able to record their dosing information, track comorbidities, upload important documents and interact with support staff or chatbots for quick guidance.
By combining all of these into one patient-friendly experience, Clinrol reduces dropouts, improves compliance and makes trial participation more convenient. This creates measurable value for sponsors and a more human-centred experience for patients.
Designed for flexibility and scale
Clinrol works with research sites, CROs and sponsors of all sizes. Whether supporting a single-site investigator-led study or a multi-country pharmaceutical trial, the platform adapts to local requirements, data privacy laws and protocol nuances.
The system is compliant with international standards, including GDPR and HIPAA. It integrates with widely used clinical trial systems such as Salesforce, RealTime and Research Manager. Sponsors and sites can access a real-time dashboard to monitor referral activity, conversion rates and compliance performance.
Clinrol is not a one-size-fits-all tool. Teams can customise workflows, manage their own outreach or choose a fully managed service with Clinrol’s support staff overseeing all recruitment and engagement activities. This flexibility is especially important for decentralised and hybrid trials, which demand more adaptive tools.
Improving access to research
One of Clinrol’s founding missions is to increase access to clinical research. Trials often rely on narrow participant pools, typically consisting of people who live near major hospitals or who are already listed in research databases. This approach leaves out older adults, rural populations and culturally diverse communities.
Clinrol is working to change that. Through targeted digital outreach, culturally tailored messaging and partnerships with general practitioners (GPs), specialists and community organisations, the platform is reaching patients who are often excluded. In recent campaigns, more than 30 per cent of referrals have come from underrepresented groups.
This has helped sponsors meet diversity targets and improved the generalisability of research by ensuring study populations reflect the real world.
Global reach with Australian roots
Although Clinrol was founded in Australia, the company has rapidly grown into a global operation. With active teams across the United States, Asia, South America, the United Kingdom and Europe, it now supports studies in dozens of regions and across a wide range of therapeutic areas.
Clinrol partners with a mix of sponsors, from biotech startups to multinational pharmaceutical companies. As interest grows, it is preparing to launch a subscription-based model for hospitals and research sites. This will give internal teams access to Clinrol’s tools and dashboards while still receiving onboarding and support services.
The company has also seen interest from organisations looking to embed Clinrol into broader clinical development programs, positioning it as core infrastructure rather than an external service.
Looking ahead
Clinrol continues to evolve. Upcoming features include deeper integration with general practice systems, tools for collecting real-world data and patient feedback, and expanded functionality to support retention over longer trial periods.
With decentralised and hybrid trials becoming more common, platforms like Clinrol will be essential to helping sponsors stay compliant, efficient and connected to their participants.
More than just a tech solution
Clinrol’s Co-founder, Arjun Bhat, sees the company’s work as more than operational.
“When a trial fails to recruit, it’s not just a financial issue. It’s a missed opportunity for patients and for progress,” he says. “We want to make research more human, more efficient and more fair. If we can remove the friction and help people feel informed and supported, we won’t just accelerate studies. We’ll help build something better for everyone involved.”
As trials become more complex and demand for efficiency grows, Clinrol is emerging as one of the few platforms designed to meet the needs of both patients and researchers. By combining smart technology with real empathy, it is solving one of the oldest and most difficult challenges in clinical research.
About Clinrol
Clinrol is an AI-powered patient recruitment and engagement platform for clinical trials. It supports faster, more inclusive recruitment and long-term patient engagement through smart automation and personalised human support. Clinrol operates globally with teams in Australia, the United States, Europe and Asia. For more information or to explore collaboration opportunities, visit clinrol.com.
