What Tricals does

TRICALS (Treatment Research Initiative to Cure ALS), established as a non-profit in the Netherlands and headquartered at Goeman Borgesiuslaan 77, 3515 ET Utrecht, is the largest European research initiative to find a cure for ALS. The organization coordinates a clinical trial network of more than 60 ALS research centres across more than 19 European countries—including UMC Utrecht (Netherlands), Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière (France), Karolinska Institute (Sweden), Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), Vall d'Hebron Hospital (Spain), King's College London (UK), and Medical University of Warsaw (Poland)—and serves three core constituencies: people living with ALS, pharmaceutical companies conducting ALS drug development, and ALS research centres executing trial operations.

TRICALS' core platform comprises three interlocking assets. The TRICALS Registry is an online patient database connecting people with ALS to recruiting trials in their country, backed by Castor's ISO 27001-certified infrastructure. The TRICALS Computer Model, developed by Dr. Ruben van Eijk at UMC Utrecht and validated through published research in Neurology (2019), uses clinical variables such as age, disease duration, lung function, and daily functioning measures to predict disease course and identify eligible trial participants, reportedly increasing eligibility rates five-fold. The MAGNET platform trial design, endorsed by the European Medicines Agency in June 2020, enables simultaneous testing of multiple ALS treatments under a single protocol architecture, reducing trial duration and exposure to ineffective medicines. Adjacent sub-products include TRICALS Academy (educational masterclasses), INARC (professional network), Precision ALS (precision medicine research project), EDUCALS (education project), and the TRICALS Clinical Centre Network.

TRICALS operates a non-profit revenue model that combines fee-for-service packages sold to pharmaceutical sponsors (Biogen for VALOR/ALSpire, Amylyx for PHOENIX, Ferrer for ADORE, Prilenia for PREVAiLS, Apellis for MERIDIAN, PTC Therapeutics for CardinALS, Verge Genomics for VRG50635) with multi-source research funding from ALS foundations (Dutch ALS Foundation, MND Association, My Name'5 Doddie Foundation, FightMND, MND Australia, Fundación Luzón, Research Motor Neurone, Ulla-Carin Lindquist Foundation), governmental bodies (NIHR, Slovenian Research Agency/ARRS), and selective pharma collaborators (ViiV Healthcare co-funded the Lighthouse II study of Triumeq). Patient participation in trials is free; marketing is community-led via the website, LinkedIn, Mailchimp-distributed email newsletters, and annual Masterclass events.

Name

Tricals

Legal name

TRICALS

Website

https://tricals.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

TRICALS is a Dutch non-profit research initiative coordinating ALS clinical trials across 60+ centres in 19+ European countries, connecting patients, pharmaceutical sponsors, and investigators through a patient registry, a proprietary computer model for trial eligibility, and an EMA-endorsed platform trial design.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Clinical Research Services

NAICS

Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Care Navigation & Triage-to-Provider Referral Platforms (HLALALAD)

Keywords

• ALS clinical trials
• Neurological disease research
• Clinical research coordination
• Treatment research initiative
• Medical trial management

Headquarters

HQ city

Utrecht

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Revenue model

1. Service Packages: TRICALS offers service packages for pharmaceutical companies, suggesting a fee-for-service model where the organization provides clinical trial support, centre coordination, and research infrastructure to drug developers.
2. Research Funding and Grants: The organization receives funding from ALS patient organizations, foundations, governmental fundings, and pharmaceutical collaborations. The Lighthouse II study was funded by multiple ALS patient organizations, foundations, and governmental fundings.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Tricals (TRICALS — Treatment Research Initiative to Cure ALS) is referenced as a non-profit research organization based in the Netherlands that coordinates ALS clinical trials across Europe. The source material provides no further product or service detail.

Product overview

TRICALS (Treatment Research Initiative to Cure ALS) operates as a unified clinical trial coordination platform rather than a traditional software product. The core offering consists of the TRICALS Registry, which connects ALS patients with clinical trials, supported by a proprietary Computer Model that uses clinical variables to predict disease course and identify eligible participants. The platform coordinates the MAGNET Platform Trial (EMA-endorsed innovative design testing multiple treatments simultaneously) and maintains a network of over 60 European research centres. Additional offerings include TRICALS Academy (educational programs), INARC (professional network), Precision ALS, and EDUCALS research projects. The organization functions as a non-profit research consortium facilitating collaboration between pharmaceutical companies, ALS centres, and patients.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• Increased patient eligibility from <5% to 75-85% of ALS patients using computer model
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• European Medicines Agency (EMA)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 June 2020EMA endorsed TRICALS' plans for an innovative platform trial design (MAGNET study) and the computer model for patient eligibility. This endorsement allows TRICALS to test multiple treatments simultaneously and radically improve clinical trial design for ALS.
• 60+ ALS Research Centres across EuropecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTRICALS collaborates with more than 60 ALS centres in over 19 European countries. Centres include UMC Utrecht (Netherlands), University Hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière (France), Karolinska Institute (Sweden), Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), and many others. Centres are selected based on dedication to ALS, clinical trial experience, patient volume, geographical location, and multidisciplinary team capabilities.
• Macquarie UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAustralian university collaborating on the Lighthouse II study as part of the international research network.
• European Medicines Agency (EMA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEMA endorsed TRICALS' innovative platform trial design (MAGNET study) in June 2020, allowing the organization to radically improve clinical trial design for ALS. EMA also endorsed the computer model for patient eligibility.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Answer ALS: Answer ALS is a large-scale, multi-institution research program generating ALS patient-derived data and biosamples to accelerate therapy development. It overlaps with TRICALS on building a deep, integrated ALS research infrastructure for drug discovery and clinical translation.
• Target ALS: Target ALS is a public-private partnership funding collaborative ALS research and drug discovery across academia and industry. It is comparable as a coordinating, multi-stakeholder ALS research organization with shared infrastructure for sponsors.
• ALS Therapy Development Institute (ALS TDI): ALS TDI is a nonprofit biotech focused on ALS drug discovery and preclinical research. While it operates more upstream (lab-based discovery) than TRICALS, it serves the same ALS therapeutic development mission and competes for charitable and pharma funding.
• Sean M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS at Mass General: The Healey Center runs the HEALEY ALS Platform Trial, the leading US platform-trial effort for ALS. It is the closest methodological analog to TRICALS's MAGNET design and competes for the same global pharma sponsor relationships.
• Northeast ALS Consortium (NEALS): NEALS is a US-based clinical research consortium coordinating ALS trial sites and patient recruitment across North America. It is the most direct functional analog to TRICALS, operating a multi-centre trial network and investigator-initiated studies in the same indication.

Broad incumbents

• IQVIA: IQVIA is a global CRO that conducts ALS trials alongside many other indications. It competes for the same pharma service-fee spend as TRICALS but lacks the disease-specific centre network and patient registry that anchors TRICALS's value.
• Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA): MDA runs a multi-disease neuromuscular clinical research network, including for ALS-adjacent indications. It is comparable as a non-profit that funds research, coordinates care centres, and partners with pharma on trial execution.
• Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics (CFFT): CFFT pioneered the disease-foundation-driven clinical trial network model that TRICALS now applies to ALS. It is a much larger, more mature analog and demonstrates how a non-profit can become an indispensable pharma partner for a rare disease.

Emerging players

• Antidote (formerly TrialReach): Antidote operates a clinical trial matching platform that connects patients to trials across multiple indications. It overlaps with TRICALS's patient-registry function but lacks ALS-specific scientific infrastructure and EMA-endorsed trial design.

Regional players

• European Reference Network for Rare Neuromuscular Diseases (ERN EURO-NMD): ERN EURO-NMD is a Europe-wide network of neuromuscular disease reference centres, including ALS. It overlaps with TRICALS as a continental coordinating infrastructure for neuromuscular trials, though it is a publicly funded clinical reference network rather than a trial sponsor-facing platform.

Market position

Strengths1 record

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tricals

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Tricals