Sanofi, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and More Than 500 Sites Join Inato in Making Clinical Research More Inclusive and Efficient

The Inato Marketplace is Reinventing the Collaboration Model Between Clinical Trial Sponsors and Sites

Inato, the first global industry marketplace that matches research sites to the right clinical trial protocols, today announced over 500 sites across more than 30 countries are participating in its Marketplace. Sanofi and Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany have also joined the Marketplace, which will further Inato’s mission to accelerate the pace of medical innovation to improve people’s lives. 

The cost of drug development has skyrocketed over the past two decades due to narrowing target patient populations, increased competition between sponsors, and rising complexity of trials. The industry has tried to reverse this rising cost trend by partnering even more with the largest clinical trial sites — inadvertently leaving patients with reduced access to new therapies and many critical research areas neglected. 

Inato is addressing high development costs, inefficiencies, and patient access to clinical trials by reinventing the partnership model between clinical trial sponsors and sites. Using a data-driven approach — coupled with a high-touch qualification and support process — the Inato Marketplace provides research sites the opportunity to search and match for trials based on their qualifications, interests and patient needs. By reliably matching sites and trials on a global scale, the Marketplace enables trial sponsors to confidently work with a broader range of qualified sites and rapidly expand the pool of patients engaged in their trials. 

“Trials rely increasingly on a small number of large sites (with 5% of sites running 70% of trials), which means that only patients with privileged access to these sites have an opportunity to participate in trials,” said Lionel Bascles, Senior VP, Global Head of Clinical Sciences & Operations at Sanofi. “Inato’s marketplace approach goes beyond these widely used large sites and matches trials with the sites that are best aligned with the protocol and are looking to offer more trials to their patients, and hopefully increase patient diversity. Building on the past year’s collaboration with Inato, we at Sanofi are investigating how to best leverage the Inato Marketplace to expand patient access and better deliver on our clinical research portfolio.”

“Inato’s data-driven, marketplace-based approach allows sponsor organizations across the globe to enrich their trial strategies, reach more diverse patients, and increase site engagement,” said Rodrigo Garcia, MD, Head of Clinical Innovation at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. “As part of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany’s Diversity and Inclusion in Clinical Trials strategy, we look forward to leveraging the global Inato Marketplace to rapidly identify highly qualified sites with a strong connection to the diverse patients that they serve in their communities.”

“Trials must adapt to patients and sites that treat them — not the other way around,” said Kourosh Davarpanah, Co-Founder and CEO of Inato. “We’re thrilled to continue to see so many sites and sponsors across the globe share our vision of a world where participating in trials is simple enough that any doctor can offer the right trial for their patients, thereby making clinical research more inclusive and efficient.”

In addition to its continued site and sponsor momentum, Inato recently launched an evidence-based diversity assessment feature, which allows sponsors to easily match their protocols to sites with expertise in patient diversity. The methodology used to build the diversity assessment leverages guidance from industry and FDA publications, input from industry leaders in diversity, and deep engagement with sites in the Inato Marketplace. So far, more than 90 sites in the Inato Marketplace have completed the diversity assessment, with nearly half receiving gold badges for their diversity capabilities and achievements.

To learn more about how the Inato Marketplace can help match the best site for any given study every time, please visit: https://inato.com/.