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“We saw that we hadn’t closed the loop, that patients may be visiting the website but they weren’t directed to any opportunities that they could actively participate in,” said Jillian Byrne, director of clinical research in the faculty of medicine and dentistry at the University of Alberta.

“That’s where the database comes in.”

Be the Cure is a joint effort of the U of A and the Northern Alberta Clinical Trials and Research Centre, which is part of Alberta Health Services.

Any clinical trial involving testing of a device, drug or biologic product must be registered with the ClinicalTrials.gov website.

Be The Cure organizers honed in on the Alberta-based trials and then arranged the data it had into a much more user-friendly format. Users can search by medical condition or research location, as well as by age and sex — in case anyone is looking for trials specific to women, seniors or children.

Nearly 600 active clinical trials are currently included in the database.

Byrne said the tool can help empower patients, especially those who might have received a recent diagnosis and are looking for an alternative treatment to supplement the care they are already receiving.

But perhaps the biggest beneficiaries will be the researchers, especially if it leads to more participants coming forward who can improve the quantity and quality of the data needed for a successful study. That, in turn, could lead to quicker and better medical advancements that improve the lives of patients.