New province-wide portal brings approximately 15,000 clinical studies into one searchable destination, with expanded recruitment capabilities for research institutions and insights to inform clinical research planning.
TORONTO, Nov. 4, 2026 /CNW/ -- Sciteline, a Canadian clinical trials technology company, today launched OntarioStudies Connect, a free public portal bringing approximately 15,000 clinical studies across Ontario into one searchable destination. The platform also lays the groundwork for enhanced recruitment capabilities at participating institutions and provincial analytics to help identify public interest in clinical research.
Making clinical research easier to discover and understand
Clinical research information is often spread across hospital websites and registries, making it challenging for patients and caregivers to find and understand relevant studies.
OntarioStudies Connect brings eligible Ontario study listings into one searchable portal, updated daily. The approximately 15,000 listings span different recruitment stages, including completed studies, and provide public contact information where available. Users can search by health condition, location and age group, with optional AI-generated plain-language descriptions to make medical terminology easier to understand.
"Finding clinical studies near you shouldn't be complicated," said Chad Walsh, chief executive officer of Sciteline. "We want to make it easier for people to find and understand clinical trials. When you or someone you love is exploring care options, knowing what's available can make a difference."
For patients and families, the challenge goes beyond finding a study. People facing a cancer diagnosis may need to explore multiple clinical trials with different eligibility criteria before identifying options to discuss with their care teams.
"As a Stage IV colon cancer survivor, I know how important it is to have hope and to understand every option available for your care," said Barry D. Stein, president and CEO of Colorectal Cancer Canada. "Research is care, and care is research. Clinical trials can be an integral part of a patient's care, offering early access to promising innovations and sometimes as a first treatment option. Patients need to know about these opportunities early enough to consider them with their healthcare teams. OntarioStudies Connect can help patients and families find and understand those options, empowering them with knowledge and hope."
Connecting research institutions with more potential participants
OntarioStudies Connect will offer enhanced recruitment capabilities for participating research institutions, including customizable study listings, multimedia content, pre-screening questionnaires and direct expressions of interest from prospective participants. These tools will be available following institutional onboarding, with notifications delivered to study teams through the platform and by email.
Participation is optional. Studies from institutions that have not joined will remain searchable, with available contact information provided through ClinicalTrials.gov.
Lawson Research Institute, the research arm of St. Joseph's Health Care London, is a founding institutional partner. Lawson will onboard studies for enhanced recruitment capabilities after the public launch.
"Research teams often rely on established referral networks to reach potential participants, which can limit awareness of studies outside the most widely recognized disease areas," said Sarah Best, manager, research operations at Lawson Research Institute. "This platform offers another way to raise awareness of our research and connect with people who may not otherwise have known these opportunities existed."
Turning public interest into insights for Ontario's research system
OntarioStudies Connect is also being developed with a provincial analytics framework designed to provide health system partners with a clearer understanding of public interest in clinical research. Through aggregated reporting, the platform will identify patterns in study searches and engagement, including which conditions generate the most interest, how activity varies across Ontario and where searches return no relevant results.
These insights could help identify gaps between public interest and available research opportunities, support community outreach and inform future research planning. Participating institutions will also have access to recruitment and operational analytics to help assess engagement and recruitment performance.
Building on experience in Atlantic Canada
OntarioStudies Connect builds on Sciteline's provincial clinical research initiatives in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. Internal Sciteline reporting from selected Nova Scotia studies has shown up to seven times as many online inquiries from prospective participants when a digital study listing is included as part of a recruitment strategy. In one study, people who discovered the opportunity through the portal accounted for 80% of its enrolment target, demonstrating the potential of leveraging online study listings for recruitment1.
"Making clinical trials easier to find benefits patients and families and the health care system, while strengthening Ontario's position as a global leader in life sciences," said Susan Marlin, president and CEO of Clinical Trials Ontario (CTO). "Sciteline is an Ontario-based company doing important work that has the potential to bridge research and care. Other jurisdictions have shown what's possible, and Ontario has an opportunity to increase public engagement in research and connect more people with cutting-edge trials that could improve health and care."
Availability and next steps
OntarioStudies Connect is available at www.ontariostudiesconnect.ca. Sciteline will showcase the platform at its exhibitor booth during the 2026 CTO Clinical Trials Conference in Toronto on Nov. 4 and 5, 2026.
About Lawson Research Institute
Lawson Research Institute is the research arm of St. Joseph's Health Care London. Its researchers conduct patient-focused research across a broad range of disciplines, including aging, chronic disease, respiratory health, imaging, mental health and neuroscience.
About Sciteline
Founded in 2018, Sciteline is a Canadian clinical trials technology company focused on improving access to clinical research and reducing administrative burden for researchers. Its integrated platform supports public study discovery, recruitment workflow management, electronic data capture, decentralized clinical trial tools and advanced analytics. Sciteline works with provincial health systems, hospitals, research institutions and industry partners to modernize clinical trial recruitment and operations.
For more information, visit www.sciteline.com.
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1 These figures reflect selected study-level outcomes from Sciteline's internal reporting and are not independently validated or representative of results across all studies. |
SOURCE Sciteline
Media Contact: Chad Walsh, Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer, Sciteline, Email: [email protected], Phone: 1-519-766-3203
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