Scaling Success: How Trialbee Helped Sanofi Build a More Patient-Centered Approach to Clinical Trial Recruitment

By Gaynor Anders, Chief Delivery Officer

As someone who has spent nearly three decades in clinical research, I’ve had the privilege of working on recruitment strategies across the globe. But beyond my professional experience, I’ve also been a patient looking for answers. I know firsthand how frustrating it can be to navigate the complexities of clinical trials.

For example, when I was searching for an oncology trial, despite knowing I met the inclusion criteria, I found myself lost in a maze of inaccessible information. It took me 96 hours just to find basic details, and even then, I had yet to speak with a site. If it was that hard for someone with industry experience, imagine how difficult it is for the average patient. This experience shaped the way I approach patient recruitment today: it must be clear, accessible, and patient-first.

That’s why I’m so proud of the work we’ve done at Trialbee with Sanofi to rethink clinical trial recruitment for asthma research. Together, we’ve designed a program-level approach that streamlines enrollment, improves trial matching, and makes participation easier for patients—all while reducing site burden. By taking a program-level approach to patient recruitment, Sanofi and Trialbee built a smarter, more efficient system that connects patients to the right trials while easing the burden on clinical trial sites.

The Power of Program-Level Recruitment in Clinical Trials

Historically, clinical trial recruitment has been a one-study-at-a-time endeavor. But Sanofi saw a better way. With multiple asthma trials running simultaneously, each with slight differences in eligibility criteria, they recognized an opportunity to match patients across the entire trial pipeline—not just one study at a time.

Why This Works:

More efficient patient recruitment – Optimizing outreach across multiple studies instead of starting fresh for each trial.
Better patient experience – If a patient doesn’t qualify for one study, they can be matched with another.
Stronger data insights – A centralized approach gives sponsors a clearer picture of recruitment trends and patient needs.
Regulatory alignment – Cohesive recruitment efforts streamline approvals and improve study timelines.

Trialbee Honey, our patient recruitment platform made this possible, using data-driven recruitment analytics and smart routing technology to ensure the right patients were identified, engaged, and matched to the best-fit clinical trials.

Making Clinical Research More Patient-Centric

At the heart of this transformation was Sanofi’s Patient Community Promise. Clinical trials are only successful when patients can easily access and understand their options, and that’s where communication plays a crucial role.

Clear, patient-friendly outreach– Patients need straightforward, jargon-free information about clinical trials so they can make informed decisions.
Multiple touchpoints for engagement – Sanofi leveraged omnichannel recruitment strategies—including patient communities, pharmacies, and healthcare provider networks—to raise awareness and drive participation.
Smart patient routing- Trialbee’s platform ensured that if a patient didn’t qualify for one trial, they could be quickly re-matched to another.

This patient-centered approach to clinical trial recruitment isn’t just about filling studies—it’s about keeping patients engaged throughout their research journey, ensuring they always have options.

Reducing Burden on Clinical Trial Sites

One of the biggest challenges in clinical research? Overwhelmed trial sites. Clinical trial sites are already juggling multiple responsibilities, and an influx of unqualified patient referrals only makes recruitment more difficult.

That’s why Trialbee’s pre-screening and smart referral system was a game-changer. Instead of sending hundreds of patients to clinical trial sites with no filtering, Trialbee implemented a secondary medical pre-screening process to ensure only highly qualified patients reached the sites.

Less administrative burden on clinical sites – Only the most eligible patients are referred.
Better patient-trial matching – Pre-screened patients are far more likely to enroll.
Stronger site engagement – When clinical sites trust the recruitment process, they’re more likely to stay engaged and responsive.

Building Long-Term Patient Engagement

Beyond recruitment for individual trials, Sanofi and Trialbee also focused on long-term engagement with patients. A key element of this strategy was creating a sponsor-specific patient registry—a database of interested patients who could be contacted for future studies.

If a patient wasn’t eligible for one study, they weren’t forgotten.
They remained in the system, receiving updates about upcoming clinical trials.
When a new trial opened that fit their profile, they were automatically re-engaged.

This approach doesn’t just improve recruitment efficiency—it makes clinical research more inclusive and patient-friendly, giving more people the opportunity to participate when the right trial comes along.

The Future of Patient Recruitment in Clinical Trials

Sanofi and Trialbee’s collaboration proves that clinical trial recruitment doesn’t have to be a bottleneck—it can be a strategic advantage. By shifting to a program-level approach for Sanofi’s asthma research pipeline, they streamlined patient identification, improved trial matching, and reduced site burden, all while enhancing the overall patient experience.

Key Takeaways:

Smarter, faster recruitment – Program-level patient recruitment makes trials more efficient.
Better patient-trial matching – Dynamic routing keeps patients engaged and ensures they find the right fit.
Less strain on trial sites – Pre-screening prevents clinical sites from being overwhelmed with unqualified referrals.
Long-term engagement – Sponsor-specific registries help build a lasting pipeline of research-ready patients.

This work has been incredibly rewarding – not just because of its impact on clinical trial efficiency, but because it truly puts patients at the center of the process. As someone who has experienced the frustrations of clinical trial enrollment firsthand, I know how much this matters.

For more information on patient-centered patient recruitment and how the Honey Platform can benefit your studies, visit www.trialbee.com