What One Research does

One Research is a UK-based clinical research services company founded in 2010 and headquartered at the Sussex Innovation Centre, University of Sussex, Brighton. The company specialises in patient recruitment, retention, and financial management for clinical trials, addressing the well-documented industry problem that roughly 80% of clinical trials fail to recruit patients on time. Its core service offering spans marketing outreach, advocacy group engagement, cohort building, bespoke patient database management, trial rescue, lost-to-follow-up campaigns, pharmacovigilance, nursing and physician outreach, and outcome and patient-reported outcomes research, delivered through a centralised multilingual communication team covering multiple European countries. A distinctive asset is a proprietary Mastercard-branded payment card service (issued via Wirecard Card Solutions Ltd), launched in 2018 after two years of R&D, which enables patients to cover trial-related expenses without using personal funds while providing sponsors and CROs with real-time blinded reporting.

The company also owns the Volunteer Outreach Programme, a long-standing diabetes patient cohort originally developed with Novo Nordisk (continuous since 2012) and fully transferred to One Research ownership in 2022. One Research's go-to-market is enterprise B2B, engaging directly with pharmaceutical companies, contract research organisations, and clinical research sites through relationship-driven sales. Revenue is generated through a mix of professional services (recruitment, retention, communication) and managed services (the payment card programme and site/patient expense management). The business is privately held, founder-owned, with no disclosed external funding rounds and operates with 11–50 employees.

Its technology stack is operational rather than platform-based: bespoke cohort databases, a payment card infrastructure integration, and multilingual communication workflows, with no disclosed AI/ML capabilities, public APIs, or developer tooling. The customer base is concentrated in European pharmaceutical sponsors, anchored by a multi-year Novo Nordisk relationship, supplemented by academic collaborations with the University of Sussex and Brighton and Sussex Medical School. Geographic operations are primarily European, with active pipelines in October 2023 to extend the expense service into additional territories.

Name

One Research

Legal name

One Research Ltd

Website

https://oneresearch.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

One Research is a UK-based clinical trial services company founded in 2010 that provides patient recruitment, retention, pharmacovigilance, and Mastercard-powered expense management for pharmaceutical companies, CROs, and clinical research sites across Europe.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Clinical Research Services / Patient Recruitment

SIC

Services-Health Services (8000)

akta.pro primary industry

Clinical Trial Patient Recruitment & Retention (HLAGACAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Clinical Trial Financial Management & Payments (Site Budgeting) (HLAGACAM)

Keywords

• Clinical patient recruitment
• Clinical trial retention
• Patient cohort building
• Pharmacovigilance services
• Clinical trial payments

Headquarters

HQ city

Brighton

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Patient Recruitment Services: One Research provides comprehensive patient recruitment services to pharmaceutical companies and CROs, including marketing outreach, advocacy group outreach, and cohort building to deliver motivated and eligible participants to clinical trial sites.
2. Patient Retention Services: Services to reduce attrition rates including trial rescues, lost to follow-up campaigns, pharmacovigilance support, and ongoing patient communication throughout trial duration.
3. Patient Expense Payment Services: Mastercard payment card service for covering patient clinical trial expenses. Provides financial management for clinical trials with real-time reporting and administrative burden relief for sites, CROs, and sponsors.
4. Clinical Trial Financial Management: Cost-effective and centrally managed system for sponsors to pay sites and patients for trial expenses, including site expense cards and patient expense coverage.
5. International Multisite Support: Multilingual support services for multi-country clinical trials, including HCP outreach, patient screening, and coordination across national borders from one central location.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

One Research provides patient recruitment and retention services for clinical trials, including marketing outreach, advocacy group outreach, cohort building, database management, trial rescues, international multi-site support, pharmacovigilance, lost to follow-up campaigns, and outcome research. It also operates a proprietary Mastercard payment card service for patient and site expense management, enabling patients to cover clinical trial costs without using personal funds.

Product overview

One Research is a clinical research patient recruitment and retention specialist operating as a service company rather than a software platform. The core offering combines patient recruitment services (marketing outreach, cohort building, advocacy group engagement) with a proprietary Mastercard payment card system for clinical trial financial management. The company operates multilingual patient communication from a central location and manages a diabetes-focused Volunteer Outreach Programme. Services are delivered as an integrated suite covering pre-trial recruitment, in-trial support (including trial rescue, lost to follow-up, pharmacovigilance), and post-market outcome research. The Mastercard-powered patient expense service is a key differentiator, enabling patients to cover trial costs without personal funds while providing real-time blinded reporting for sponsors.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Volunteer Outreach Programme: A programme for recruiting and managing volunteers for clinical trials, originally managed for Novo Nordisk since 2012, now owned by One Research.

Products and services

• Patient Recruitment Services Comprehensive patient recruitment services for clinical trials including marketing outreach, advocacy group outreach, cohort building, and direct patient dialogue to drive enrollment, targeted at pharmaceutical companies and CROs.
• Clinical Trial Financial Management (Mastercard Payment Service) Patient and site expense management using a branded Mastercard payment card (issued by Wirecard Card Solutions Ltd under the Payfex brand) that covers agreed trial-related costs so patients do not use their own funds, with real-time blinded reporting for sponsors and CROs.
• Multilingual Patient Communication Native-speaker patient communication across national borders for screening, retention, outcome research, and patient-reported outcomes, managed from a central UK location, targeted at multi-country clinical trials.
• Database Management (Cohort Database) Design, build, and management of bespoke cohort databases for clinical research recruitment programmes, enabling rapid patient analysis by geographical, medical, and demographic criteria, with email, SMS, and phone contact options.
• Pharmacovigilance Services Full safety reporting, quality control, and reconciliation to comply with pharmacovigilance regulations across international multi-site trials, offered to pharmaceutical companies and CROs.
• Volunteer Outreach Programme (VOP) A diabetes patient cohort programme providing opportunities for people with diabetes to participate in clinical trials, originally managed for Novo Nordisk since 2012 and now owned by One Research.
• Trial Rescue Services Swift targeted marketing and patient recruitment support when clinical trials are compromised by low volunteer numbers or high dropout rates, with ability to target specific areas, regions, or countries.
• Lost to Follow-up Services Campaigns to re-establish contact with patients deemed lost to follow-up, retrieve medical information, and reduce attrition costs, based on the principle that retaining existing volunteers is significantly cheaper than recruiting new ones.
• Nursing Support Services Recruitment and management of registered general or specialist nurses to support clinical study programmes, including patient visits, lost to follow-up campaigns, and site setup and delivery.
• Physician Outreach Services Campaigns to identify and contact physicians interested in contributing clinical trial participants, including identifying potential new research sites for rare diseases.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 50 clinical trial protocols successfully supported since inception
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Novo NordiskcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2012Long-standing strategic partnership since 2012. One Research managed Novo Nordisk's Volunteer Outreach Programme providing diabetes clinical trial opportunities to thousands of patients. In 2022, Novo Nordisk transferred full ownership of the programme to One Research to enable broader research access beyond Novo Nordisk studies. This partnership demonstrates One Research's core capability in managing large-scale patient recruitment programmes for the pharmaceutical industry.
• University of SussexcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounding partner providing academic perspective and research collaboration. One Research is based at the Sussex Innovation Centre on the university campus. The partnership provides access to academic expertise and supports the company's innovative approach to patient recruitment research.
• Brighton and Sussex Medical SchoolcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic medical partnership collaborating on COVID-19 research and other clinical studies. Brighton and Sussex Medical School and University of Sussex partnered with One Research to deliver vital COVID-19 research, with One Research managing volunteer recruitment and programme administration.
• Sussex Innovation CentrecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInnovation centre providing startup support, resources, and access to academic and commercial research networks. One Research was founded at the Centre in 2010 and has benefited from the Centre's strategic insight and business development support. The Centre provided first-time entrepreneur Alistair Crombie with resources, skills, and confidence to launch the business.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• IQVIA: Largest global CRO with broad patient-recruitment, real-world evidence and trial-support capabilities within a full-service portfolio. Broad incumbent — same buyer (sponsors/CROs) and same clinical-trial services category, but operating at vastly greater scale.
• Syneos Health: Biopharmaceutical services organization with dedicated patient recruitment and retention capabilities alongside CRO operations. Broad incumbent — overlapping recruitment service line aimed at the same pharma/CRO buyers.
• Parexel: Global CRO offering patient recruitment, feasibility and decentralized trial solutions as part of full-service clinical development. Broad incumbent — competes for sponsor recruitment budgets via bundled offerings.

Others

• ICON plc: Global CRO offering patient recruitment, feasibility and decentralized trial services as part of an integrated development offering. Broad incumbent — comparable recruitment/retention services, but bundled within full-service trials rather than standalone.

Direct peers

• Antidote: Digital patient-recruitment and clinical-trial matching platform connecting patients to trials across multiple therapy areas. Direct peer — competes in the same patient-recruitment-for-clinical-trials category as One Research, with overlapping sponsor/CRO buyers.
• SubjectWell: Patient-recruitment marketplace connecting prospective participants with clinical trials through a pay-per-participant model. Direct peer — competes for the same recruitment budget line and overlap in therapeutic areas.
• BBK Worldwide: Long-established patient recruitment and engagement agency for clinical trials, offering multimedia outreach, site support and travel/expense services. Direct peer — closely comparable service portfolio (recruitment + patient logistics) and customer base (sponsors/CROs).
• AutoCruitment: Digital patient-recruitment firm using targeted online advertising and predictive analytics to identify and refer trial candidates. Direct peer — comparable recruitment-as-a-service model sold to pharma and CRO clients.
• Clincierge: Specialist in patient logistics and reimbursement for clinical trial participants, including travel and expense coordination. Direct peer — most direct competitor to One Research's Mastercard-based patient-expense management offering.

Emerging players

• PatientWing: Patient-centric trial-discovery and recruitment platform that supports patients through matching, education and travel/expense logistics. Emerging player — partial overlap; combines recruitment with patient-experience services similar to One Research's retention thesis.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about One Research