Akkure founder and CEO Dr Oran Rigby. Image: Paul Sharp/Sharppix
Akkure’s platform uses Microsoft AI technology to connect patients to the most relevant clinical trials, to accelerate medical discoveries.
Medtech start-up Akkure is releasing a free version of its clinical trial platform for charities, to help connect patients with the best trials worldwide.
The Dublin-headquartered company said its Global Clinical Trials Finder can be easily added to a website and is can also be tested on the Akkure webpage.
Founded in 2019 by Prof Oran Rigby and Dr Amy Hollingworth, Akkure – formerly called Akkure Genomics – has developed a clinical trials platform using AI, which helps people participate in the most relevant clinical trials based on data about themselves and their condition.
There are currently more than 450,000 clinical trials being conducted worldwide, with various criteria for someone to be eligible to participate. As many as 85pc of clinical trials fail to retain enough patients while 80pc don’t finish on time, according to one clinical trial whitepaper.
Akkure’s matchmaking system aims to increase the recruitment and retention of patients participating in trials. It uses Microsoft’s Health Insights technology to find relevant clinical trials around the world for patients.
The medtech currently employs 20 people and is headquartered at NexusUCD. Last November, Akkure managed to raise €1m in seven days through a crowdfunding campaign on the Spark Crowdfunding platform.
In 2021, the start-up raised €1.18m on this platform, which was more than double its initial target.
Rigby said its platform improves the chances of finding an optimised precision-matched trial for patients and accelerates the “discovery of new therapeutics and individual cures”.
“We are delighted to be able to provide a version of this service for free to charities around the world to help their communities find suitable trials not only more efficiently but offering real hope of the best trial for the right patient,” Rigby said.
Akkure launched the free version of its clinical trial finder ahead of World Clinical Trials Day, which is taking place on 20 May. This day is used to honour James Lind, who conducted the first randomised clinical study on 20 May 1747.
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