Our Story

Medi-Link was founded in 2010, born from a clear observation: since the early 1990s, despite significant advances in Clinical Research management, the relationships and interactions between Sponsors and Investigator Sites had not evolved meaningfully. In fact, they had even deteriorated—especially in private practices.

The initiatives launched by CeNGEPS, though promising, were limited to university hospitals. The arrival of Clinical Research Technicians (CRTs), through physician associations or hospital departments dedicated to Clinical Research, opened up new perspectives—but primarily within large hospitals. For sponsors, it remained difficult to recruit investigators, retrieve the necessary administrative documents, and meet patient enrollment targets within protocol-defined timelines.

To this, one had to add the growing workload for physicians and healthcare staff, along with increasing pressure on sponsors to do more, faster, and at a lower cost. This pressure trickled down to investigator sites, while emerging countries became increasingly attractive competitors for conducting clinical studies.

In response to these challenges, the idea of Medi-Link emerged: to create a responsive structure staffed with support Clinical Research Associates (CRAs), capable of adapting to physicians' needs and optimizing the performance of clinical research sites. The model was simple: the physician handled clinical follow-up of the patients, while the support CRA managed logistics—including appointment scheduling, data collection, and liaison with sponsor-appointed CRAs.

By regionalizing CRAs to ensure they were no more than 1.5 hours away from investigator sites, Medi-Link reduced costs and improved proximity between investigators and their support staff—ultimately boosting site efficiency. Initially designed to support private practitioners, it quickly became clear that hospital structures also needed this kind of support.

Medi-Link subsequently expanded its services to include monitoring studies on behalf of hospital institutions such as regional and university hospitals. This expansion addressed the challenges hospitals faced in recruiting and retaining CRAs, as well as managing increasing workloads.

Since late 2024, Medi-Link has broadened its model by creating a comprehensive hub that brings together all the expertise needed throughout the lifecycle of a biomedical research project—from the initial idea to publication and the use of final results. This model retains the agility, expertise, and cost-efficiency of smaller structures, while offering the capabilities of a large international CRO.

Our experience has allowed us to build a network of pre-qualified investigator sites, ready to commit to the deliverables defined in protocols. Whether hospital-based or in private practice, these sites benefit from local support and are fully equipped to meet the requirements of your studies.