Two New Partnerships Aim to Expand Patient Access to Clinical Trials Through Community-Based Research

Two recent partnership announcements reflect a growing industry focus on bringing clinical trials closer to patients in the communities where they already receive care, rather than concentrating research activity at a small number of familiar academic sites.

Bayer and Henry Ford Health

Bayer and Henry Ford Health have announced a strategic research partnership to expand clinical trial access for patients, with Henry Ford Health selected as one of only four US academic health systems in Bayer's strategic research network. The first such alliance in this network was announced in July with the University of Colorado Anschutz, UCHealth, and Children's Hospital Colorado.¹

Initial efforts will focus on cardiovascular and renal disease, including thrombosis, heart failure, stroke, and chronic kidney disease; oncology, including advanced cancers and targeted therapies; and women's health, including treatments for menopausal symptoms and gynecologic conditions.

Beyond clinical trials, the organizations plan to collaborate on using AI, analytics, and electronic health record data to improve trial design and patient identification, generate real-world evidence on treatment performance, and support training and innovation in healthcare data science.

"Clinical trials are often the first opportunity patients have to access cutting-edge treatments," said Dr. David Lanfear, chief scientific officer for Henry Ford Health, in a press release. "Through this collaboration, we aim to make clinical research more accessible, reduce barriers to participation, accelerate the development of new treatments and ensure that more patients have the opportunity to benefit from medical innovation."

"Bayer is consistently exploring new avenues that can help more patients with diseases or health conditions that impact millions of people across the world," added Christoph Koenen, head of clinical development and operations for Bayer, in the release. "We share this commitment to patients and advancing drug discovery with likeminded institutions like Henry Ford Health that can help reduce barriers to accessing investigational or potential new treatments right in the very communities where patients are already receiving their care."

Massive Bio and FOMAT

In a parallel development, Massive Bio and FOMAT—now the largest embedded research organization in the United States following its acquisition of Topography Health's research site business unit in May 2026—have launched a partnership to support AI-powered patient prescreening for oncology clinical trials. The collaboration is currently running a pilot project to test the efficiency of the integrated workflow before expanding its scope.²

FOMAT operates a network of more than 40 investigator sites across six states—Maryland, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Michigan, and North Carolina—embedding clinical research directly into standard-of-care settings. Ninety-one percent of its recruitment is driven through its community partner network, with a stated focus on diverse and underserved patient populations.

Through the partnership, Massive Bio's AI platform will analyze patient profiles within FOMAT's physician network to identify potential clinical trial eligibility across oncology indications, with matched patients guided toward relevant studies. The goal is to reduce the time between diagnosis and access to research options.

"Prescreening has historically been manual, slow, and inconsistent," said Arturo Loaiza-Bonilla, MD, co-founder and chief medical AI officer of Massive Bio, in a press release. "Embedding AI into FOMAT's community-based sites means we can bring speed and precision to that step without disrupting the physician relationships that make FOMAT's model work. For patients in communities that have long been underrepresented in clinical research, this kind of infrastructure matters enormously."

Massive Bio has facilitated more than 19,000 clinical trial matches to date across 17 markets. Its AI platform is backed by a peer-reviewed prospective study demonstrating four times faster trial matching with measurable accuracy across 3,804 real-world cancer patients.

A broader shift in how sponsors think about access

Both announcements reflect a tension the industry has been grappling with for some time. In a January video interview with Applied Clinical Trials, Liz Beatty, co-founder and chief strategy officer at Inato, addressed how sponsors can balance efficiency pressures with patient access as competition for sites and patients intensifies.³

Beatty noted that while AI-driven tools are accelerating protocol design, feasibility, and trial operations, overreliance on a small pool of familiar sites can create bottlenecks that undermine those gains.

"While this can look really efficient on paper, it further concentrates trials in a few locations, ultimately restricting patient access and limiting who can participate," she said.

Her prescription for 2026 aligns closely with the models both Bayer and Massive Bio are now pursuing.

"When sponsors are intentional about access, they can actually improve enrollment speed, reduce bottlenecks, and shorten overall timelines," Beatty said.

References

1. Bayer and Henry Ford Health Announce Strategic Research Partnership to Expand Patient Access to Clinical Trials. Bayer. News release. July 17, 2026. Accessed July 22, 2026. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260716388316/en/Bayer-and-Henry-Ford-Health-Announce-Strategic-Research-Partnership-to-Expand-Patient-Access-to-Clinical-Trials

2. Massive Bio Partners With FOMAT to Expand Cancer Patient Prescreening for Clinical Trial Access. Massive Bio. News release. July 20, 2026. Accessed July 22, 2026. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260720835336/en/Massive-Bio-Partners-With-FOMAT-to-Expand-Cancer-Patient-Prescreening-for-Clinical-Trial-Access

3. Reframing Efficiency to Protect Patient Access in 2026. Applied Clinical Trials. January 8, 2026. Accessed July 22, 2026. https://www.appliedclinicaltrialsonline.com/view/reframing-efficiency-protect-patient-access-2026