Canopy Clinical Research, one of Australia’s leading clinical research site networks, selects Clinrol as its preferred patient recruitment technology platform for clinical trials across its five locations.
Clinical trial research site teams manage a high volume of incoming patient enquiries, with each staff member often supporting 100 or more calls daily. To meet this demand, teams utilise a range of systems for calling, messaging, scheduling and patient data capture. Canopy recognised the need for a centralised system that could unify workflows, minimise duplicated effort, and deliver clearer visibility across the patient journey.
Canopy and Clinrol have formalised a partnership, with Canopy adopting Clinrol’s platform to support continued growth in patient recruitment capabilities. While finding patients remains a significant hurdle in clinical trials, the primary challenge at the site level is increasingly centred on scaling operations effectively and cohesively.
Since adopting the platform, Canopy has collaborated closely with Clinrol to thoughtfully integrate it into its daily operations. The Clinrol platform is designed to improve lead quality, reduce screen failure rates, support staff productivity and significantly enhance visibility across the recruitment funnel.
“Patient recruitment remains a major barrier to clinical trial completion globally, particularly in Australia, where population size and geography add complexity,” said Kris Barooshian, Chief Executive Officer of Canopy Clinical Research. “As a rapidly growing research network, we identified the need for a uniform platform that could bring together patient engagement and recruitment operations into one place.”
Over several months, Clinrol worked directly with Canopy’s recruitment and operational team to redesign these workflows into a single connected system. Clinrol Connect, Clinrol’s patient engagement platform, now serves as the recruitment layer across Canopy’s operations, centralising patient engagement, pre-screening, communication, and workflow management, and integrating with its CTMS.
This includes consolidating call handling, automating reminders and rescheduling, and introducing structured phone screening with live eligibility checks and using AI to prioritise patients based on their likelihood of qualifying.
Importantly, the approach was not to replace human interaction but to enhance it. Human calls remain core and a key differentiator at Canopy, with Clinrol’s platform improving how calls are prioritised, structured and followed up. AI reduces manual tasks and surfaces insights, allowing Canopy’s site staff to shift focus to engaging patients and progressing them into trials.
“We've used a lot of systems over the years to fix some of the key operational and recruitment barriers facing sites. We have been extremely impressed by Clinrol’s technology platform, Clinrol Connect, and the level of visibility it has unlocked for our team. We are looking forward to the full roll-out over the coming months and seeing how new technology can help our teams unlock new possibilities,” Barooshian added.
Rather than a traditional rollout, the platform was implemented across several live studies, allowing workflows to be tested and refined in real-world conditions.
“We worked side by side with the Canopy team, mapping how recruitment actually happens on the ground and rebuilding it into a streamlined workflow,” said Arjun Bhat, Co-Founder and CEO of Clinrol.
“The goal was to remove friction around teams. When that happens, teams move faster, data improves, and the patient experience is elevated, with patients more likely to make it through to enrolment.”
The move positions Canopy as one of the first major Australian site networks to adopt a dedicated recruitment technology platform, separating recruitment from traditional CTMS systems and creating a more scalable, patient-centric model. Unlike a CTMS, which focuses on trial operations, Clinrol Connect is purpose-built to manage patient communication and engagement, bringing structure and visibility to the patient journey.
Clinrol and Canopy will also co-sponsor activations at the BIO International Convention in San Diego, USA, alongside Investment NSW and Austrade, is creating an opportunity to showcase Australian clinical trial innovation on an international stage.
To learn more about Clinrol Connect or to see how the platform can help your research site, site network or hospital, visit clinrol.com/clinrol-connect.
Share
