Frequently Asked Questions

Triall is a company that offers innovative software and supporting services to clinical researchers and patients involved in clinical trials—research studies that investigate the safety and efficacy of new treatments before these can enter the market.

Modern clinical trials involve increasing amounts of electronic systems and data. As a result, many clinical research professionals experience a lack of oversight, fragmentation, and uncertainty about the integrity and authenticity of collected research data. This reduces efficiency and reliability in the development of new medicines. These issues demonstrate the need for new tools and ways of working.

Triall brings together a team of clinical trial professionals, eClinical software developers, and emerging technology experts. Triall’s team builds on the combined experience of managing 150+ clinical trials across 30+ countries, and of managing tech-enabled startups and scaleups both in the Life Sciences and the health software industries.

Triall’s mission is to advance clinical trials in the digital era, making use of evidence-based innovations in information technology to promote security, quality, efficiency, and decentralised ways of collaboration among clinicians and patients.

Triall envisions a digital ecosystem for clinical trials: a decentralised collaboration environment that links different eClinical software, health information systems, and their users through a common and secure federated data infrastructure. Applying decentralised technologies and open ‘web3’ standards, this infrastructure will facilitate highly granular and tamper-resistant ways of authentication, authorisation, discovery, and exchange among ecosystem participants, while assuring security, privacy, auditability and individual control. The future digital ecosystem will open up ample opportunity for smarter, more-efficient, more-reliable and truly patient-centric clinical research.

Since 2018, Triall has been working with industry and academia in the design, development, and demonstration of key enabling technologies for the envisioned decentralised collaboration environment. Triall believes in making these technologies work with, instead of replacing existing systems and ways of working in the clinical trials domain. Therefore, Triall innovates on top of an existing and industry-validated eClinical technology platform, gradually adding innovative features for improved cross-system collaboration.

Triall is proud to be partnered with leading organisations in clinical research, eClinical innovation, and emerging technology.

A selection of our key partners:

Crucial Data Solutions – Founded in 2010, Crucial Data Solutions (CDS) provides the most innovative 'low-code/no-code' data and clinical trial management technology on the market today. CDS is the developer of TrialKit, a cloud-based eClinical technology platform that forms the basis for Triall’s eClinical solutions. TrialKit is being leveraged by industry leaders and innovators such as Verily Life Sciences (a subsidiary of Google’s Alphabet), ICON GPHS, FUEL Studios, Catalyst Clinical Research, SISCAPA Assay Technologies, CDx Diagnostics, Optinose, and many more. The landmark partnership with CDS enables Triall to innovate on top of a validated technology platform that is used by thousands of industry professionals globally.

Sphereon – Sphereon and Triall have a long-standing strategic partnership in research, development, and implementation of emerging technologies and standards in clinical trials. Sphereon (est. 2008) has its roots in business process management and document processing, and currently is one of the world’s leading specialists in blockchain and self-sovereign identity (SSI) technologies. Their technology solutions have established independently verifiable trust in data, documents, and processes for Public Administration, Healthcare, Mobility, Education, and other industries. Sphereon’s API-driven platform for verifiable data exchange, Sphereon VDX, enables Triall to deploy advanced solutions for storing and sharing clinical trial data in a secure, verifiable, and privacy-protective manner. Sphereon VDX is instrumental for realiing of a secure and efficient decentralied collaboration environment for clinical trials.

CR2O – Full-service contract research organisation CR2O (est. 2012) offers extensive experience in managing and implementing Phase I–IV clinical trials across a broad range of therapeutic areas and many different regions of the world. CR2O is preferred partner in large international consortium studies (e.g., Horizon 2020, CEPI, BMGF, IMI) and collaborates with leading clinics and research centers, offering access to world-class scientific expertise and patient populations. CR2O’s in-house clinical research experts work with Triall in the ideation, design, testing, and validation of innovative eClinical products and features to optimise user experience, problem-solution and product-market fit.

Triall offers a modular, fully interoperable suite of eClinical solutions for data collection and study management, designed to support clinical trials ‘end-to-end’—from study startup to close-out and post-trial activities. Built with modern clinical trial designs in mind, it offers advanced web-based, mobile, and wearable integration capabilities to support remote data collection and study management from anywhere, anytime. An overview of the eClinical solutions offered by Triall can be found here.

You can fill in the form on our Contact page to receive more information or schedule a product demo with one of Triall’s product experts. Also make sure to keep an eye out for new articles and videos about our products, published on our blog and social channels.

Trusted by thousands of researchers, data managers, monitors, and participants across the world, users praise our eClinical platform for its intuitiveness, interoperability, and accessibility. The suite comes with web-based and native mobile applications that are hosted in a secure cloud-based environment and allow working from virtually any preferred device and location. The suite represents one of the most accessible end-to-end eClinical platforms on the market today, offered under flexible pay-per-study subscription plans. Moreover, it is uniquely positioned for the future of clinical research, offering eClinical solutions that are truly supportive of hybrid and decentralised/virtual clinical trials, and advanced add-ons for emerging technologies to empower patients, boost data integrity, and streamline collaborative processes.

Through its network of preferred partners, Triall can offer a range of supporting contract research (CRO) services for study and data management. These services include eClinical setup and configuration, data management and biostatistics, quality management, pharmacovigilance, and clinical project management. All Triall partners are qualified, audited, and trained to work with Triall's eClinical platform, offering clients an efficient way of collaborating and expediting study startup and execution. An overview of the available services can be found here.

Our eClinical platform is designed to support any therapeutic area, any trial type (decentralised, hybrid, site-based), and any trial phase (I-IV). It offers a modular and fully integrated suite of eClinical solutions that can be selected and configured to match your study needs and organisational context: from traditional site-based to decentralised or hybrid trials, and from single-center safety to multi-center, multi-country pivotal or post-marketing studies. Triall’s preferred partners hold the expertise to offer supporting study and data management services across therapeutic areas, geographic regions, and stages of clinical development.

Triall’s software is hosted by state-of-the-art AWS facilities and complies with all applicable international quality standards and regulations, including 21 CFR Part 11 guidelines, GDPR, HIPAA, EU GMP Annex 11, ICH Q9, ISO 9001:2015, ISO/IEC 27001:2013, SOC Type 2, and HITRUST. Ongoing analysis and independent auditing are performed to verify all necessary procedural controls and maintain regulatory compliance.

All collected data is securely managed and protected using the latest in data security techniques to proactively guard against potential threats. Data entering and exiting Triall’s secure cloud are encrypted using the healthcare-industry standard 256-bit SSL and 2048-bit RSA public keys. Networks are protected and constantly monitored both physically and remotely. Industry-leading enterprise data centers housing dedicated, backed-up virtual servers apply rigid industry standards for physical security and access.

The primary data centers are hosted in SOC-certified and fully redundant AWS facilities, which are tied to four different power substations, guaranteeing at least 99.982% availability. The health of all software applications, servers, and network are monitored through advanced alerting systems that allow for proactive maintenance and patches. The AWS system is operated by top-rated enterprise standards which help ensure optimal performance, security, and reliability for users across all regions around the globe. All primary servers are housed in U.S. and European data centers using redundant configurations with multi-level power backup. Data is backed up to off-site data centers with the same security and controls. Testing and logs help ensure backups are complete and performing as required. To date, Triall software primary servers have never been required to revert to backup data. SOPs and semi-annual rehearsals ensure the disaster recovery plan is always prepared to prevent interruption of service and user access.

Blockchain is a distributed information technology that is seen as a fundamental enabler of the ‘Web3’—an emerging model for the internet that provides users with increased privacy and control over their information, and enables trustful ways of peer-to-peer data exchange, authentication, and authorisation.

Blockchain represents a radically new way of keeping records, making use of a distributed network of computer servers (nodes). Each node maintains an identical copy of the same database (ledger) and adheres to a predefined, network-specific consensus protocol for maintaining the ledger and validating its records.

Blockchain records can store virtually anything, but are typically used to store information about transactions and (data) assets. Assets may be digital (intellectual property, documents and data) or physical (real estate, cash, physical art).

Owing to advanced cryptography, the distributed ledger facilitates reliable tracking and exchange of (data) assets, even among untrusted parties, and without a mutually trusted intermediary to keep score. Cryptography is applied to chain records to each other, and to validate the integrity of this chain. As a result, blockchain records cannot be altered or removed unnoticed, making them immutable and tamper-resistant.

Blockchain thus offers a decentralised, independent system of record, which can be used to establish proof of the existence of specific records and their contents at specific points in time. What’s more, can also be applied to conceal record contents without compromising on the ability to establish and verify proof of data existence and integrity.

To learn more about blockchain, you can read this Triall blog article.

Clinical trials have become increasingly digital, data-driven, and decentralised. This brings a unique set of challenges and significant concerns: As clinical data and documents are being collected by, stored in, and exchanged among an increasing number and variety of systems and devices, trial stakeholders struggle to ensure the integrity and authenticity of research data. Moreover, cybersecurity threats demand a tamper-resistant and granular approach to identity and access management, one that assures auditability and compliance to applicable data security and privacy regulations while tackling inefficiencies and inaccuracies from system fragmentation and interoperability constraints.

Blockchain enables independent proof and verification of records, and therefore offers great potential for safeguarding the integrity of clinical trial data, documents, and processes. Moreover, it offers sophisticated mechanisms for authenticating digital identities (e.g., of users, devices, documents). Such facilitates highly granular and tamper-resistant ways of authentication, authorisation, discovery, and exchange among different systems and their users, while assuring security, privacy, auditability and individual control.

Blockchain can therefore form the basis for a proof-based, privacy-preserving, and cross-system collaboration environment—properties that Triall sees as key drivers of secure, sound, and efficient clinical research in the digital era.

The distributed and immutable nature of blockchains makes the technology susceptible to potential privacy breaches: anything stored on a public blockchain ledger cannot be removed and is viewable to anyone with an internet connection. This means that personally identifiable information (PII) should never be stored on the blockchain, not even in encrypted form. PII and other types of sensitive information can however still be stored on blockchain through a process called hashing. Hence, blockchains enable proof of the existence of specific data objects and their content at specific points in time, while data itself may remain concealed. These proofs can be recorded and verified without revealing data contents to the public.

Blockchain can even strengthen data security and privacy, as it enables new, more sophisticated and tamper-resistant mechanisms for handling identity and access management.

Bitcoin, the first application of blockchain technology (enabling a peer-to-peer electronic cash system), has become somewhat notorious for its high energy consumption and carbon footprint. This is because the security of the underlying blockchain network is reliant on a certain consensus algorithm that requires vast amounts of computational power to operate.

Contrary to popular belief, not all blockchains depend on energy-intensive consensus algorithms. There are many alternatives that consume considerably less energy and there’s a growing body of initiatives that focus on reducing the carbon footprint and climate impact of energy-intensive blockchains. Recently, Ethereum, the world's second-largest blockchain network, reduced its network's energy consumption by 99.9% after a comprensive update to its consensus algorithm.

On September 28, 2021, Triall introduced its own utility token TRL. The launch of TRL followed a successful crowdfunding campaign that built a community of nearly 1,500 investors from nearly 50 countries around the globe, among which many Life Science and medical research professionals.

The TRL community brings together people from different backgrounds, cultures, and geographies who share a common interest in promoting Triall. Their support as investors and project advocates has been and continues to be an important driver of Triall’s development and innovation efforts.

TRL offers a platform-native means of payment for software and services, and represents a key building block for Triall’s future vision of a self-sustaining digital ecosystem, where it can coordinate fair, equitable, and peer-to-peer exchange of data resources between data providers (e.g., patients), data consumers (e.g., clinical trial sponsors) and service providers (e.g., eClinical software providers).

Hashing refers to a mathematical algorithm, which has been around for over three decades and underpins various crucial processes such as password verification and electronic signatures. Contrary to encryption (a two-way function that enables both the encryption and decryption of data), hashing is a one-way function that transforms data into irreversible fixed-length hash codes.

Hash codes are unique for each data object—the same data input will always generate the same hash code—and, when applied appropriately, there is no way to ‘reverse engineer’ a hash code back to its original data input. Hashing therefore provides a privacy-preserving means to establish records of sensitive data on a public blockchain ledger, where hash codes can be used to verify the authenticity of data. This verification can be achieved by ‘re-hashing’ a given data input and comparing the resulting hash code with the associated hash code previously stored and timestamped on the blockchain.

A common analogy to a hash code is the fingerprint. A fingerprint is unique to each person and with the fingerprint alone you won’t be able to reverse engineer someone’s identity. However, if you would ask the exact same person to make a fingerprint again, you will find out that these are a match.