The story behind TrialFinder

When my father was diagnosed with lung cancer, we went through the full journey - treatments by the book, second opinions, a psychologist, adapted fitness. When the treatments stopped being effective and it seemed like we'd run out of options, I started searching for clinical trials on his behalf.

A clinical trial is a controlled medical study that tests new drugs on patients. It's a way to access treatments that aren't yet available through regular channels, for patients who have exhausted existing options.

I learned quickly that finding a clinical trial for a specific medical condition is far from simple. The information exists, but it's scattered across multiple databases, written in dense medical jargon, buried behind unfriendly interfaces, and often not up to date. There's no tool that helps you understand whether a trial is relevant to your situation or how to even bring it up with your doctor. Even the doctors themselves often don't know how to navigate these systems or what they can offer their patients. It took me a long time to learn how to work the system, how to reach out to researchers, and how to get into studies.

For us, it worked. My father participated in two clinical trials that extended his life and gave us more time together. If not for the COVID pandemic, we would likely have continued into a third trial that was halted.

Since my father passed away in 2020, people have been reaching out through friends and acquaintances asking for help finding clinical trials. I've been doing it by word of mouth, manually, and as a volunteer. Recently, I decided to do something about it.

That's why I built TrialFinder.