What is TrialDoor?

TrialDoor is a free, secure, non-commercial clinical trial matching service that evaluates every pancreatic cancer trial the way an oncologist would — in depth, across clinical dimensions, and with a focus on each patient’s needs. It filters out poor fits and highlights the most appropriate options first, reducing the number of trials patients and physicians need to review.

What makes TrialDoor different from other trial-matching tools?

TrialDoor uses a proprietary, diagnosis-specific rubric that evaluates each trial across many clinical dimensions — not just keywords or simple filters. Every candidate trial is machine reviewed daily using logic refined over thousands of human-guided iterations, allowing the platform to eliminate clearly unsuitable trials, identify the best-matched studies, and rank them with the strongest options at the top. This results in a shorter, more meaningful set of candidates for patients and clinicians to evaluate.

TrialDoor calculates the percentage of trial life that has already elapsed, allowing users, if they prefer, to focus on trials that are earlier in their trial life. After evaluating and customizing the selected group of trials using the interactive dashboard, TrialDoor lets the user download either a pdf document or a csv file with a full description of each filtered trial for further study.

Unlike some trial matching tools, TrialDoor has no connection to any pharmaceutical company or commercial enterprise, it is provided solely for the benefit of the patient and physician community.

Which cancer diagnoses does TrialDoor currently support?

TrialDoor currently evaluates all pancreatic cancer trials that are contained in the NIH clinicaltrials.gov database with a U.S. trial location. Support for additional cancer diagnoses will be added in the coming months.

How does TrialDoor evaluate clinical trials?

Every morning each trial is processed through a diagnosis-specific scoring rubric that analyzes numerous dimensions for both patient-type eligibility and fit including disease stage, molecular markers, suitability for surgery and radiation, standard of care options, and other clinically relevant factors. These dimensions map directly to the information patients or clinicians later provide to score each trial for each patient.

Does TrialDoor use AI?

Yes — but in a controlled and focused way. AI helps generate and refine the computer code used to interpret clinical trial text and build the scoring rubrics. The code for each clinical dimension (e.g. suitability for surgery) of the trial is developed independently and that code is only finalized after many editing iterations of human checking of the resulting scoring against the original trial language for accurate results. Importantly, the “AI cord” is cut once the trial evaluation code is finalized, so the computer code based results are consistent and verifiable from day to day. Using computer code written with the help of AI (rather than using AI directly) for both the daily trial evaluations and trial matching also results in faster calculation speed and lower energy and resource demand. AI never accesses patient information, only publicly available trial information from clinicaltrials.gov.

How long does the trial matching process take?

The TrialDoor Pancreatic patient input form currently consists of 14 questions - it generally takes 2-5 minutes to complete. The patient’s proprietary interactive dashboard of results is provided in 1-3 seconds. The user can spend as much time as they would like in the interactive dashboard adjusting certain search variables (e.g. distance), which then adjusts the resulting trial set on the fly. They can also hide any trials (with one click) that they think are not appropriate for the patient. Once they are happy with their trial set they can click on the pdf or csv button to instantly download their report. The entire process can be completed in as little as five minutes.

Does TrialDoor store patient data?

TrialDoor does not collect patient names, addresses, contact information, medical record numbers, dates of birth, or any other personal identifiers. The patient’s five digit zip code is used temporarily to calculate the distance to each trial site location, then immediately “masked” to only three digits before saving to comply with HIPAA guidelines. The non-identifiable clinical information provided by the user is saved for 30 days to enable the user to refine their selection process, but is then deleted.

Is TrialDoor secure?

Yes. TrialDoor uses end-to-end encryption on secure HIPAA-aligned Google Cloud managed architecture. The system is engineered with strong data-security principles and HIPAA readiness: encrypted HTTPS communication, Google-managed identity and access controls, isolated virtual networks, and storage encryption at rest and in transit. No third-party services receive or process patient information, and all infrastructure components are within Google’s HIPAA-eligible service boundary. The form data that is saved for 30 days is only accessible using the dashboard url provided to the user that contains a unique, assigned 36-character random UUID string. The pdf or csv generated by the user is not saved by TrialDoor; it is created in temporary cloud memory for immediate download by the user.

Is TrialDoor really free?

Yes, completely. There are no fees, accounts, logins, or advertisements, and no commercial or pharmaceutical-sponsor involvement.

Who Created TrialDoor?

TrialDoor was created by a family member caregiver who experienced firsthand how difficult and overwhelming the clinical trial search can be. It exists as an independent public service, built to help patients, families, and physicians find better options with greater ease and clarity. For legal reasons it is owned and operated by the caregiver’s firm, Orthogonal Data LLC.

Does TrialDoor Replace Medical Advice?

Absolutely not. TrialDoor is a decision-support tool intended to help patients and their physicians identify appropriate clinical trial options. Patients should always discuss trial options with the medical professionals on their care team.

Is there any other legal stuff I need to know about?

Orthogonal Data LLC provides the TrialDoor clinical trial matching tool for informational purposes only. Orthogonal Data LLC does not sponsor or conduct any clinical trials, and all listings originate from clinicaltrials.gov. Trial matches are algorithmic suggestions to help identify potential options and are not medical advice or guarantees of eligibility. Users should always review each linked trial directly on clinicaltrials.gov and consult with qualified health care professionals to determine suitability. Orthogonal Data LLC bears no liability for the accuracy of information, trial outcomes, or any decisions made based on this tool. I also understand that Orthogonal Data LLC is not a health care provider, and that while Orthogonal Data LLC may take reasonable steps to protect submitted data, it cannot guarantee absolute security.