Advarra has announced the integration of its electronic institutional review board (eIRB) system, Center for IRB Intelligence (CIRBI), with its Study Collaboration platform, creating a unified solution to accelerate clinical trial startup processes.
The integration establishes an automated connection between IRB review status and study startup workflows, providing contract research organizations (CROs) and sponsors with centralized visibility into site activation status from site selection through first-patient-in (FPI).
"With Advarra's IRB services supporting over 60% of clinical trials in North America, we are uniquely positioned to provide sponsors and CROs with greater visibility into site activation," said Ashley Davidson, Advarra's Sponsor Tech Strategy product lead and vice-president. "By automating IRB review status updates and embedding them directly into Study Collaboration's milestone tracking capabilities, we have replaced the need for spreadsheets and disconnected systems."
Streamlining Site Activation Processes
The Study Collaboration platform, introduced in January 2025, is currently utilized by over 14,000 research sites globally to expedite trial startup activities. These activities include feasibility evaluations, document exchange, communication, and trial training on sponsored studies.
With the new integration, when site teams complete assigned tasks within the solution, milestone tracking updates automatically. This allows sponsors and CROs to monitor trial progress more accurately while minimizing the burden of repetitive status checks for both site and study personnel.
Advarra's CIRBI platform enables faster trial startups, reduces compliance-related risks, and improves oversight of IRB activities while maintaining subject safety standards.
Industry Adoption and Impact
The integration builds on Advarra's established position in the clinical research technology landscape. The company's Study Collaboration solution combines Longboat technology (acquired by Advarra in 2020) with Advarra's study startup delivery program and industry-adopted single sign-on capabilities.
"Parexel is continuously enhancing our collaboration with investigative sites to accelerate study startup timelines and reduce burden on their staff," said Deb Tatton, Parexel's president of global clinical and data operations. "Advarra's technology has played an important role in supporting these efforts and consolidating multiple site tasks into one streamlined integrated system."
The solution includes two products, Advarra Study Startup (SSU) and Advarra Enroll, which work together to guide study teams through site activation and improve enrollment planning throughout trial conduct.
Addressing Key Industry Challenges
Study startup remains one of the most challenging aspects of clinical trials, with manual information exchange and disconnected systems often hindering coordination and visibility.
"These inefficiencies are critical to address, especially when 80% of trials fail to enroll patients on time," Davidson noted.
According to Nancy Cleverley, senior vice president of operations management at the Alliance for Multispecialty Research (AMR), Study Collaboration offers more efficient study training that site staff actively want to complete. Additionally, automated workflows, including document routing between sponsors' electronic trial master file (eTMF) systems and sites' electronic investigator site file (eISF) platforms, save time and reduce redundancies.
"The interoperability of Advarra's technologies simplifies our study startup workflows, which is especially important for industry trials that require a lot of coordination with sponsors and CROs," said Denise Snyder, associate dean of clinical research at Duke University School of Medicine. "By removing redundancies in study startup activities, we save time and shorten our activation timelines."
Technology Investment for Future Growth
The solution is supported by a multi-year technology investment aimed at further improving site activation speed and compliance. By automating workflows and integrating site activation processes such as regulatory submissions, document management, and training, Advarra aims to reduce redundancies and save valuable time.
These enhancements strengthen collaboration between stakeholders, improve compliance, and accelerate research timelines, ultimately helping to bring new treatments to patients faster.
