The Clinical Trials Pulse

Week of Aug 03–09, 2026

A deterministic snapshot of the global clinical-trial landscape — every figure reproducible from the ClinicaLister knowledge graph.

All editions

This week at a glance

1,005
New trials registered
-5.2% vs prior week
361
Trials completed
40
Terminated / withdrawn / suspended
417
Completion-date slips
6
New FDA approvals
6 month-to-date
0
New EMA authorisations
1
New drug shortages
104 active
1,140
Publications added

New trials by phase

Registered in the past 7 days.

  • NA772
  • PHASE2101
  • PHASE171
  • PHASE349
  • PHASE424
  • EARLY_PHASE113

New trials by sponsor type

  • OTHER771
  • INDUSTRY191
  • OTHER_GOV32
  • UNKNOWN4
  • NETWORK3
  • FED3
  • NIH1

Status changes this week

Trials that moved to a new overall status.

  • COMPLETED361
  • RECRUITING244
  • ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING158
  • TERMINATED27
  • WITHDRAWN25
  • ENROLLING_BY_INVITATION15
  • NOT_YET_RECRUITING4
  • SUSPENDED4

Why trials stopped

Terminations, withdrawals and suspensions — with the sponsor's stated reason.

  • NCT00799110 TERMINATED

    Withdrawal of funding

  • NCT01845883 WITHDRAWN

    Initiating PI has left the institution, and no participants have been enrolled for the interventional trial.

  • NCT02145117 TERMINATED

    unable to recruit sufficent subjects

  • NCT02962661 SUSPENDED

    PI Request

  • NCT03281369 TERMINATED

    The study was closed because the sponsor decided not to continue the development of certain treatment combinations.

  • NCT03412058 TERMINATED

    The study was terminated prematurely due to insufficient patient recruitment

  • NCT03503071 WITHDRAWN

    protocol change

  • NCT03843359 TERMINATED

    Business Decision

  • NCT03869190 TERMINATED

    Study was closed early as the sponsor decided not to continue development of certain treatment combinations.

  • NCT04646434 SUSPENDED

    Protocol being updates and staff trained

  • NCT04826237 TERMINATED

    Insufficient funding

  • NCT04994808 TERMINATED

    The study was closed due to the end of funding.

New FDA approvals

6 approvals month-to-date.

SponsorDrugApproved
TAKEDA PHARMS USAOVEPOREXTON2026-08-05
UMEDICASACUBITRIL; VALSARTAN2026-08-04
ELI LILLY AND COORFORGLIPRON2026-08-04
BIOCON PHARMA LIMITEDCARBIDOPA,LEVODOPA2026-08-03
ZYDUS LIFESCIENCESINDOCYANINE GREEN2026-08-03
MACLEODS PHARMS LTDNINTEDANIB ESYLATE2026-08-03

New EMA authorisations

7.7% of the last year's EMA authorisations were conditional.

None authorised this period.

Drug shortage watch

1 new · 0 resolved · 104 currently active.

Newly reported shortagePosted
Calcium Chloride; Dextrose; Magnesium Chloride; Sodium Chloride; Sodium Lactate Intraperitoneal Injection, Solution2026-08-03

Hottest conditions

Most new trials this week.

  • breast cancer15
  • cancer15
  • neoplasm13
  • anxiety disorder13
  • cerebrovascular disorder13
  • chronic obstructive pulmonary disease12
  • obesity disorder11
  • chronic kidney disease10
  • hypertensive disorder10
  • major depressive disorder10

Most active sponsors

Industry sponsors, new trials · trailing 28 days.

  • Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC11
  • Novartis Pharmaceuticals11
  • GlaxoSmithKline10
  • AstraZeneca9
  • AbbVie7
  • Shenzhen Salubris Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd.6
  • Novo Nordisk A/S6
  • HUINNO Co., Ltd6
  • Pfizer6
  • Sichuan Baili Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.6

Molecules on the move

New links where the molecule is the studied intervention.

  • fentanyl15
  • carboplatin13
  • aspirin12
  • carboxyamidotriazole12
  • bupivacaine10
  • nalbuphine10
  • paclitaxel10
  • bupivacaine hydrochloride; epinephrine bitartrate10
  • bupivacaine hydrochloride; lidocaine hydrochloride10
  • rhein10

Device corner

FDA device clearance data is current; MAUDE adverse-event and recall feeds lag ~1-2 months.

0
New device clearances
98
Device recalls logged

The graph, in reference

Whole-corpus totals and rankings, recomputed every week.

New trial registrations — trailing 12 months

Monthly new registrations across ClinicalTrials.gov. Puts the weekly count in context.

5,1092,5550
25-0825-1025-1226-0226-0426-0626-07
597,742
US trials
11,474
EU trials
9,208
Molecules
36,006
Diseases (MONDO)
29,768
FDA drugs
2,730
EMA medicines
177,454
FDA devices
1,936,998
Verified drug–trial links
1,134,269
Publications

Trials by phase

  • NA60%
  • PHASE214%
  • PHASE110%
  • PHASE38%
  • PHASE46%
  • EARLY_PHASE11%

Trials by sponsor type

  • OTHER71%
  • INDUSTRY22%
  • OTHER_GOV3%
  • NIH2%
  • NETWORK1%
  • FED1%
  • UNKNOWN0%
  • INDIV0%
  • AMBIG0%

Trials by study type

  • INTERVENTIONAL76%
  • OBSERVATIONAL23%
  • EXPANDED_ACCESS0%
  • UNKNOWN0%

Trials by recruitment status

  • COMPLETED55%
  • UNKNOWN13%
  • RECRUITING13%
  • TERMINATED6%
  • NOT_YET_RECRUITING6%
  • ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING4%
  • WITHDRAWN3%
  • ENROLLING_BY_INVITATION1%
  • SUSPENDED0%
  • WITHHELD0%

Top therapeutic areas

By linked trials (MONDO rollup).

  • cancer or benign tumor120,693
  • nervous system disorder115,157
  • hereditary disease80,952
  • digestive system disorder73,232
  • cardiovascular disorder70,517
  • endocrine system disorder55,228
  • psychiatric disorder53,177
  • musculoskeletal system disorder52,184
  • immune system disorder50,419
  • inflammatory disease48,750
  • respiratory system disorder46,856
  • infectious disease46,826
  • reproductive system disorder39,143
  • metabolic disease34,776
  • hematologic disorder33,152

Trials by country of site

Among the 72,877 trials with a mapped site location — not the whole corpus.

  • United States30,500
  • China8,003
  • France7,141
  • Canada4,965
  • Spain4,508
  • Turkey (Türkiye)4,488
  • United Kingdom4,381
  • Germany4,280
  • Italy4,194
  • South Korea2,827
  • Australia2,630
  • Belgium2,395
  • Poland2,343
  • Netherlands2,274
  • Taiwan2,152

Top sponsors

SponsorTrials
Cairo University4,787
Assiut University4,740
GlaxoSmithKline3,625
National Cancer Institute (NCI)3,551
Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris3,534
AstraZeneca3,467
Pfizer3,291
Mayo Clinic3,228
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center3,016
Novartis Pharmaceuticals2,682
National Taiwan University Hospital2,587
Massachusetts General Hospital2,555
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)2,436
Boehringer Ingelheim2,282
University of California, San Francisco2,147
Stanford University2,142
Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC2,139
Riphah International University2,127
Hoffmann-La Roche2,082
Eli Lilly and Company2,071
Duke University2,046
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center1,942
Seoul National University Hospital1,886
Ain Shams University1,870
Hospices Civils de Lyon1,833

Most-studied conditions

ConditionTrials
breast cancer11,800
obesity disorder9,566
type 2 diabetes mellitus9,140
chronic pain syndrome8,808
cancer8,241
HIV infectious disease8,212
COVID-197,643
non-small cell lung carcinoma6,377
hypertensive disorder6,134
diabetes mellitus6,128
cerebrovascular disorder6,018
colorectal cancer6,014
coronary artery disorder5,943
prostate cancer5,851
depressive disorder5,835
cardiovascular disorder5,607
anxiety disorder4,903
heart failure4,902
injury4,482
Parkinson disease4,438
asthma4,421
cognitive disorder4,180
lung cancer4,061
benign essential hypertension3,883
neuralgia3,832

Most-studied molecules

MoleculeTrials
carboplatin7,180
paclitaxel5,559
isoniazid5,329
prednisolone5,264
cyclophosphamide5,120
ropivacaine4,856
dexamethasone4,795
bevacizumab4,608
cisplatin4,467
lidocaine3,610
aspirin3,380
gemcitabine3,180
bupivacaine3,122
pembrolizumab2,987
desoxycorticosterone acetate2,982
metformin2,964
sitagliptin and metformin hydrochloride2,958
rituximab2,939
meprednisone2,850
dapagliflozin metformin hydrochloride2,788
sitagliptin metformin hydrochloride2,768
docetaxel2,762
linagliptin and metformin hydrochloride2,755
fluorouracil2,712
alogliptin and metformin hydrochloride2,697

The pipeline & the cliff

Standing competitive & regulatory landscape — who is developing what, at which stage, and which drugs are about to lose exclusivity.

Pipeline competitive matrix

Active trials by the most prolific industry sponsors, split by phase.

Phase 1Phase 2Phase 3
GlaxoSmithKline
1,094
861
892
AstraZeneca
1,019
551
802
Pfizer
1,175
709
654
Novartis Pharmaceuticals
508
836
735
Boehringer Ingelheim
1,067
321
398
Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC
700
550
739
Hoffmann-La Roche
493
481
568
Eli Lilly and Company
826
535
548

Patent cliff — loss of exclusivity

FDA drugs whose exclusivity expires soon (distinct substances).

46
< 6 months
40
6–12 months
98
12–24 months
Drug (losing exclusivity < 6mo)Expires
Fedratinib Hydrochloride2026-08-16
Valbenazine Tosylate2026-08-18
Gallium Ga-68 Edotreotide2026-08-21
Cobicistat2026-08-22
Difelikefalin Acetate2026-08-23
Sofosbuvir2026-08-28
Ledipasvir; Sofosbuvir2026-08-28
Citalopram Hydrobromide2026-09-16
Phentolamine Mesylate2026-09-25
Atogepant2026-09-28
Miglustat2026-09-28
Technetium Tc-99m Labeled Carbon2026-09-29
Patiromer Sorbitex Calcium2026-10-02
Risdiplam2026-10-03
Dexamethasone2026-10-03

Regulatory designations

FDA drugs carrying each designation.

16,485
Orphan drug
838
Fast track
29
Breakthrough
74
Pediatric exclusivity

Most-tested comparators

Molecules most often used as the comparator arm (the standard to beat).

  • alogliptin and metformin hydrochloride1,967
  • sitagliptin and metformin hydrochloride1,960
  • sitagliptin metformin hydrochloride1,231
  • metformin956
  • ropivacaine876
  • dapagliflozin metformin hydrochloride831
  • dexamethasone766
  • lidocaine764

Methodology & sources

Every figure is a deterministic SQL aggregate over the ClinicaLister knowledge graph as of the report date. No figure is AI-generated or estimated; each is reproducible and traceable to its public source.

Sources: ClinicalTrials.gov · EU CTIS · openFDA (drugs, devices, shortages) · EMA · MONDO disease ontology · GSRS · GUDID · Europe PMC / PubMed

Every figure above is a deterministic aggregate over the ClinicaLister knowledge graph — and one click deep in the product, with a source behind each claim.

Machine-readable: download this edition as JSON above, or query the full archive programmatically via the public get_public_report_snapshots endpoint.