Over five years ago, the team behind FindMeCure, a UK-based patient-facing platform focused on clinical trial recruitment, began noticing a pattern – challenges with screening, enrolling, and retaining patients often due to deeper issues in trial planning. To address this upstream problem, they collaborated with feasibility and clinical operations experts to develop TrialHub – a platform designed to align with real-world workflows and deliver fast, automated access to critical trial planning data. By tackling the issue of fragmented, outdated, and incomplete information, TrialHub advances FindMeCure’s broader mission of bringing research closer to patients and improving the clinical trial ecosystem from the ground up.

TrialHub equips clinical trial planners with real-time, automated access to global research data and country-specific patient insights – helping reduce costly amendments, choose the right sites, and reach eligible patients at the right time. It is the first platform to fully automate Standard of Care research and, launching in 2025, the first to offer dynamic, country- and indication-specific Patient Journey Mapping. This transforms complex qualitative sources like medical guidelines and publications into clear, actionable data.

Most clinical trials fail because they target “unicorn patients” with strict eligibility criteria that don’t reflect real-world healthcare realities, overlooking patients’ true disease burden and motivations. According to Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development, 57% of protocols face major amendments – 45% of which are avoidable – often due to unfeasible criteria and recruitment challenges. TrialHub helps prevent these issues by aligning trial design with actual patient experiences and local healthcare contexts, ensuring more realistic and successful recruitment.

TrialHub’s innovative approach to understanding patient journeys earned the company the DPharm Idol Disrupt Award at the 2025 DPharm Conference – a recognition that reflects a broader industry shift toward designing trials around real patient experiences rather than rigid protocols. The award underscores how solutions like TrialHub’s Patient Journey Mapping can help transform clinical research into a more accessible, patient-centered care option, ultimately advancing innovation across healthcare.

TrialHub partners with leading pharmaceutical companies and clinical research organizations (CROs) across the industry to support smarter, faster clinical trial planning. The company focuses on three core areas: Trial Planning Data Intelligence, a $2 billion market helping teams make informed, data-driven decisions early in the process; Patient Feasibility Optimization Analytics, another $2 billion market focused on improving recruitment strategies through better patient insights; and End-to-End Drug Lifecycle Analytics, a $5 billion market aimed at enhancing decision-making across the full development journey.

TrialHub has experienced significant growth, securing partnerships with three of the world’s top 10 pharmaceutical companies and three leading global CROs. The platform delivers measurable business impact, including saving a top 5 CRO 171,000 man-hours in Standard of Care research, enabling a life sciences company to accelerate patient recruitment by threefold, and helping a top 10 pharmaceutical company achieve $1.6 million in cost savings within a single quarter. These results highlight TrialHub’s effectiveness in optimizing clinical trial efficiency and accelerating drug development.

Maya Zlatanova is the co-founder and CEO of TrialHub, where she leads across key areas including commercial strategy, product vision, and team culture. With over 15 years of global experience in clinical research regulations, patient recruitment, feasibility, and trial operations, she brings deep industry insight to the company. She is a recognized industry leader and frequent speaker at major healthcare events, known for her expertise in using technology to improve clinical trial design and patient engagement. Maya also serves on several industry committees and is passionate about advancing patient-centric approaches in clinical development.

DayOne spoke with Maya Zlatanova, co-founder and CEO of TrialHub and DayOne Accelerator Alumna 2023/24, about the role of AI in healthcare, industry challenges and trends shaping the future. This is what she shared.

AI is rapidly becoming a vital asset in healthcare – not as a replacement for human expertise, but as a powerful amplifier of it. In clinical research, AI plays a transformative role by analyzing complex and often fragmented qualitative data from diverse sources, such as medical publications, regulatory guidelines, and patient records. By converting this vast and varied information into clear, actionable insights, AI enables researchers and clinicians to make smarter decisions, optimize trial design, and accelerate the development and delivery of new treatments. Ultimately, this fusion of human knowledge and AI-driven analytics helps bring innovative therapies to patients more quickly and efficiently, improving outcomes and advancing precision medicine.

One of our primary challenges has been gaining access to senior stakeholders within our target organizations, which is crucial for building meaningful partnerships and driving adoption. This challenge motivated us to develop a highly effective go-to-market strategy, where we continuously tested and refined various approaches over the years. Through this iterative process of experimentation and learning, we identified the most effective tactics tailored to our industry’s unique dynamics, enabling us to engage key decision-makers more successfully and accelerate business growth.

Launching a clinical trial today is more complex and challenging than ever before. Rapidly shifting geopolitical dynamics, evolving regulatory requirements, and increasing pressure to satisfy both scientific rigor and commercial objectives demand not only more efficient and data-driven trial planning but also continuous, real-time monitoring of the entire clinical landscape. Additionally, payer and Health Technology Assessment (HTA) expectations are increasingly influencing earlier stages of trial design, requiring protocols to align closely with local standards of care and patient realities. Failure to account for these factors can lead to costly delays – not only in patient recruitment but also in regulatory approvals and ultimately market access.

TrialHub addresses these challenges by integrating all critical data streams into a single, comprehensive platform. It enables stakeholders to continuously track and adapt to changes across the clinical, regulatory, and payer environments. By providing dynamic insights into local treatment practices, patient eligibility, and reimbursement landscapes, TrialHub helps ensure trials are designed and executed with precision, minimizing risks and accelerating the path to successful outcomes.

The life sciences industry thrives on close-knit relationships – building a strong network of connections is essential. By engaging with diverse stakeholders, you gain a deeper understanding of the sector’s challenges from multiple perspectives. This insight enables you to deliver truly unique value that addresses real pain points, setting your product apart in a crowded market. Focus on solving genuine problems faced by your customers, and adoption will naturally follow, driving sustained growth and success. That’s where the DayOne Accelerator made a real difference for us, among many other ways it supported our journey.

The pharmaceutical industry faces the pressing challenge of patent expirations on many blockbuster drugs, driving companies to accelerate clinical development and bring new treatments to market swiftly to stay ahead of generics and maintain investor confidence. At the same time, gene therapies are rising in prominence, offering the promise of one-time, curative treatments. While these innovative therapies come with complex trial designs and regulatory demands, they mark an exciting shift toward personalized, high-risk R&D that requires fresh operational approaches and long-term pricing strategies.

Meanwhile, AI is revolutionizing workflows – from protocol design and site selection to real-time trial monitoring and patient recruitment – by streamlining manual, fragmented processes and enabling faster, data-driven decisions. This technological leap is vital for staying competitive in today’s fast-evolving, post-pandemic R&D landscape.

Pharmaceutical companies are also reshaping their approach to clinical trials by bringing more of the process in-house. By building their own digital infrastructure and capabilities rather than relying solely on CROs, they’re gaining greater control over speed, quality, and innovation. This shift elevates trial execution from a mere cost center to a strategic advantage in the race to market.

DayOne’s expert selection panel had the tough challenge to choose only 15 companies from a total of nearly 200 submissions, coming in from 40+ different countries all around the world. This year, we had a record number of submissions from Switzerland (33), with the US (30) and UK (17) being the next two most frequently represented countries.

The 2025 program begins with an in-person Bootcamp in Basel at the start of September, followed by the rest of the hybrid program where the startups will receive 1:1 mentoring with Pharma industry executives, and industry-specific coaching from top experts. The program culminates with our Innovation Showcase in December, where the cohort will have the opportunity to pitch their solutions to investors.

After the program is finished, our startups will have the chance to join our post-accelerator extension program, and up to three of them will also receive CHF50k in non-dilutive funding and 6 months’ desk space at a Switzerland Innovation Park Basel Area site.

Are you interested in applying for next year’s program? 

If you’re an early-stage startup with a healthtech solution for an unmet need in Pharma R&D (NB: tech solutions only – molecules are accelerated by our sister initiative BaseLaunch), then we would love to hear from you. The next Call for Applications will open in March 2026 – learn more about the Accelerator program in the meantime here. 

Oncoustics is a medical device company, specialized in using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse ultrasound data for diagnostics and treatment monitoring of diseases with high unmet clinical need.

Their technology focuses on low-cost, non-invasive surveillance, aiming to detect and monitor diseases like structural liver disease and other organ pathologies and cancers earlier and more accurately than traditional methods. By leveraging raw ultrasound signals and machine learning, Oncoustics enhances point-of-care diagnostics, making it faster and more accessible for clinicians. Their patented technology uncovers novel biomarkers, aligns with clinical standards, and is adaptable to any ultrasound-imaged anatomy, offering a scalable platform for early, rapid diagnostics that can reduce unnecessary biopsies and improve patient outcomes.

Oncoustics’ primary customers include hepatology and endocrinology clinics, with plans to expand into primary care. The company also partners with pharma companies to use acoustic biomarkers as endpoints in drug studies and to enhance patient enrolment in clinical trials.

Beth Rogozinski is the CEO of Oncoustics, bringing a strong background in deep tech and health tech. Based in Silicon Valley throughout her career, she has played key roles in several innovative companies. Notably, she was part of the founding team at Pear Therapeutics, whose product for treating substance use disorder (reSET), was the first software-only therapeutic approved by the U.S. FDA, marking a major milestone in healthcare and digital medicine.

DayOne spoke with Beth Rogozinski, CEO of Oncoustics and DayOne Accelerator Alumna 2024/25, about the role of AI in healthcare, the challenges of a startup and her advice for navigating these. This is what she shared.

Healthcare remains the fifth least digitized industry globally and is in urgent need of transformation. AI is poised to play a major role in this shift. While AI has long been used in drug discovery, its expansion into direct clinical applications is inevitable. One of AI’s greatest strengths in healthcare is its ability to analyse complex data sets that are beyond human interpretation. Oncoustics is harnessing this potential by mining raw ultrasound sound data – a resource that’s typically discarded 90% of the time. Within this overlooked data lies valuable diagnostic and treatment-monitoring information that can significantly enhance patient care. 

Right now, technology – especially AI and digitization – is a major focus in the industry. Beyond that, trends accelerated by COVID, like remote clinical trials and remote patient monitoring, are here to stay and will continue growing. These tech-enabled approaches are becoming standard in healthcare, and it shows how tailored technology can transform industries. 

Understanding the regulatory and security landscape is crucial. You also need to deeply understand the needs of your target customers – whether clinics or pharma companies. It all comes down to product-market fit: is there real demand for what you’re building, and how can you grow that demand? Ideally, you should have a clear grasp of your customer and their needs before writing a single line of code. Build for them, not just for the sake of building. 

Two other key pieces of advice: fundraising is a challenging and demanding process – start early and focus on building strong relationships. And finally, remember that startups are a team sport. Network constantly. The more people you connect with, the greater your chances of success. 

We’ve had a tough couple of years in health and health tech, especially since 2023. The biggest lesson has been the importance of resilience. You have to be able to weather the ups and downs and keep moving forward. We’re in the business of advancing healthcare innovation; we can’t afford to get discouraged – we have to keep pushing. 

As mentioned, healthcare is the fifth least digital industry in the world, and it’s long overdue for transformation. The technology exists and the tools are available – it’s up to us to integrate them thoughtfully, keeping in mind regulatory and security requirements, and making sure they fit into real-world clinical workflows. There’s no need to fear AI – it’s just another tool and what matters is learning how to use it effectively. 

Risklick is a Swiss-based digital health company that specializes in AI-driven solutions for clinical trial protocol development. Risklick’s flagship product, Protocol AI, is the first AI-based platform designed to streamline and optimize the creation of clinical trial protocols and related study documents. The solution enables companies to shorten protocol development time by 50% while enabling compliant and data-driven trial design.

Traditionally, clinical protocols take up to 12 months to write, involve 5-20 contributors, and suffer from poor quality due to error-prone, manual processes. Protocol AI modernizes this by providing an intelligent, collaborative platform that enhances quality and efficiency.

Dr. Poorya Amini, founder and CEO of Risklick, has a background as a veterinarian and holds a PhD in pharmacology. After completing his studies, he worked as a clinical trial project manager at a CRO, where he gained firsthand experience with the challenges of trial management. Seeing the industry’s reliance on outdated tools and recognising the potential of AI to address these challenges, he was inspired to create Protocol AI and lead efforts to drive innovation in clinical trial protocol development.

DayOne spoke with Dr. Poorya Amini, CEO of Risklick and DayOne Accelerator Alumnus 2023/24, about the role of AI in healthcare, the challenges of a startup and his advice for navigating them. This is what he shared.

Role of AI in healthcare

There’s a lot of hype around AI, which often leads to unrealistic expectations. While AI is a powerful tool – especially in healthcare – practical solutions that demonstrate clear ROI are still rare. In pharma, time to market is critical due to patent pressures and intense competition, so AI’s ability to accelerate processes is vital. However, clinical trial design is complex and requires human expertise, experience, and intuition beyond data alone.

That’s why we view AI as a supportive tool that empowers humans to work faster, smarter, and more efficiently – not as a replacement. In other words, we see AI as a supportive “co-pilot” to enhance human expertise, reduce errors, and accelerate research, while ensuring that final decisions always remain in human hands.

Challenges and advice

Data security and privacy requirements are clear and well-defined, but the challenge lies in determining the best approach and process for this new solution. Since it’s the first of its kind, no one fully knows the right way. We work closely with clients through trial and error – collaborating, learning from failures, and iterating until we find the most effective solution. While we aim to lead and maintain our position, we are building those best practices and paving the way for the market. In other words, we are building both the market and the solution.

The challenge is that clinical trials are becoming increasingly complex, which slows everything down. While technology and processes are improving efficiency, trial designs are getting more intricate, especially in fields like oncology where multiple therapies and comparison arms are involved. So, even as we make progress, faster trials may remain difficult due to this rising complexity.

The biggest challenge for digital and AI startups in pharma is proving value and ROI. Since these technologies and approaches are new, there’s little concrete evidence – only assumptions and projections – leading to market hesitation. Pharma companies are reluctant to take risks due to past failures and prefer to wait for proven examples before adopting change. My advice to startups is to start with small use cases in collaboration with clients. This helps demonstrate value, which can then lead to larger opportunities. Our first pilot was with a mid-sized pharmaceutical company, where we demonstrated value and created a strong use case. We then used that success to approach others for additional pilots.

Lessons learned

The biggest lesson I’ve learned is to stay committed to your vision – realistically and persistently – even in the face of scepticism. Early on, we received significant pushback, including from investors who believed large corporations developing similar tools would make our solution irrelevant. We were told major players were building their own systems and would never become our clients. Still, we stayed focused. A few years later, some of those same companies chose to use our platform and abandon their internal solutions. It proved that deep expertise and execution can outperform size and brand.

Innovation can be challenging in large organisations. With the pace of technological change, it’s easy for solutions to become outdated before they’re even deployed. In contrast, startups have the agility to adapt quickly. While larger companies may take a year to approve and implement a decision, we can assess, decide, and pivot in a day – making speed and adaptability our greatest advantages. The most effective approach is for startups to collaborate with large firms – who bring business expertise, resources, and industry networks – to mature and adopt innovations successfully.

Looking forward

I believe that clinical research will undergo a major transformation in the next three to five years. Emerging technologies – such as in silico trials, digital twins, and advanced AI – combined with improved processes, will significantly reshape how trials are conducted. Today, the success rate of clinical trials is around 10%, but with these innovations, I’m confident we’ll see a shift toward far more efficient and effective trials.

An important milestone for the DayOne Accelerator has been achieved. Over two intense days, the DayOne Selection Committee interviewed 36 startups, shortlisted from 194 applications received from more than 40 countries.

Executives from Pharma and Diagnostics, investors, IP and regulatory experts, as well as technology and knowledge leaders, came together to share their expertise and insights during these selection days.

From Hong Kong to San Francisco, founders pitched their solutions to improve and accelerate Pharma R&D. The proposals covered a wide range of areas within the healthtech space: digital biomarkers, techbio, digital clinical trials & remote monitoring, diagnostics, patient screening & stratification, protocol optimization, and others (e.g. data analytics).

After rich discussions and thoughtful evaluations, the committee has now selected the healthtech and techbio startups that will take part when the 2025 program kicks off in September.

Cecile Tardy-Srinivasan, DayOne Portfolio & Accelerator Lead, shared, “The two-day Selection Committee meeting was an exciting milestone for the DayOne Accelerator, with outstanding engagement from both interviewed startups and committee members. The jury was impressed by the breadth of innovation pitched by the 36 ventures to propel Pharma R&D, ranging from AI-aided drug discovery to health tech solutions enabling clinical development for the Pharma industry. There was a shared enthusiasm among everyone involved to be part of and actively contribute to the DayOne ecosystem. We look forward to reconnecting at the Kick-off Bootcamp and continuing this journey together.”

The official announcement of the new cohort will be published in the second half of August.

DayOne’s expert selection panel had the tough challenge to choose only 15 companies from a total of 170 submissions, coming in from countries all around the world:

The theme of this year’s accelerator program is “Harnessing AI, data and digital tools to power clinical development”, and within that our 2024 cohort is spread across our four main areas of interest:

The cohort members are now starting Phase 1 of the acceleration program, which will focus on helping them to optimize the value proposition and business model of their startup. DayOne will also set them up with valuable connections with fellow startups, mentors, experts, and the various accelerator program sponsors. 

At the end of the year, five of the 15 startups will be selected to advance to Phase 2, where they will work towards scaling up their business and achieving pivotal milestones. They will receive tailored mentoring and expert support, as well as in-kind services offered by DayOne and its supporting sponsors, to prepare them for collaborations with the life science industry. 

Are you interested in applying for next year’s program?

If you’re a startup with a healthtech solution and aiming at collaborating with pharma companies, then the DayOne team would love to hear from you. Learn more about the DayOne Health 4.0 program here. Please feel free to express your interest here and get notified when our 2025 call opens. (NB: this link will take you to our partner F6S platform).

About DayOne

DayOne, based in Basel, is the epicenter for pioneering health tech ventures. Their core mission is to propel startups and aid corporates, providers, and payers in external innovation.
Since 2018, the DayOne Accelerator, powered by global partners, has catalyzed 87 international healthcare ventures in digital health and medtech through competitive, equity-free initiatives. Complementing this, their impactful events like BOOM Summit, Health hack and Open Mic Next in Health Series unite the health tech community, fostering change and amplifying the spirit of innovation. Rooted in the European life sciences hub, it champions collaborative innovation through an ecosystem approach.