The Clinical Trials Pulse

Week of Aug 24–30, 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

997
New trials registered
-7.3% vs prior week
369
Trials completed
40
Terminated / withdrawn / suspended
425
Completion-date slips
0
New FDA approvals
47 month-to-date
0
New EMA authorisations
4
New drug shortages
103 active
569
Publications added

New trials by phase

Registered in the past 7 days.

  • NA753
  • PHASE293
  • PHASE183
  • PHASE351
  • PHASE434
  • EARLY_PHASE18

New trials by sponsor type

  • OTHER778
  • INDUSTRY171
  • OTHER_GOV35
  • FED5
  • NETWORK4
  • UNKNOWN4

Status changes this week

Trials that moved to a new overall status.

  • COMPLETED369
  • RECRUITING269
  • ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING155
  • TERMINATED57
  • NOT_YET_RECRUITING42
  • WITHDRAWN30
  • ENROLLING_BY_INVITATION17
  • SUSPENDED11
  • AVAILABLE2
  • NO_LONGER_AVAILABLE1
  • WITHHELD1

Why trials stopped

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

  • NCT00796887 TERMINATED

    Study was stopped early due to limitations in funding. As a result, the sample size was insufficient for meaningful exploration of functional outcomes

  • NCT01216371 TERMINATED
  • NCT02928497 TERMINATED

    The enrollment was prematurely terminated on October 15, 2020, with 481 randomized patients. As discussed in the ASAP-TOO Update Meeting held on 16-September-2020 with FDA (Q150603-S001-A005), termination of enrollment was not due to safety concerns

  • NCT03037684 TERMINATED

    Study was stopped due to difficulties recruting patients, at the time, 20 patients and 20 controls were included. Within last to years, only 2 patients and 2 controls could be recruted. It lookes, that the condition is to rare available.

  • NCT03050190 TERMINATED
  • NCT03107871 TERMINATED

    Study sponsor closed trial due to slow enrollment.

  • NCT03125577 TERMINATED
  • NCT03159364 TERMINATED
  • NCT03170141 TERMINATED
  • NCT03184753 TERMINATED
  • NCT03185468 TERMINATED
  • NCT03328325 TERMINATED

    Study visits could not be completed for all enrolled participants due to COVID-19 Pandemic

New FDA approvals

47 approvals month-to-date.

No data.

New EMA authorisations

7.3% of the last year's EMA authorisations were conditional.

None authorised this period.

Drug shortage watch

4 new · 0 resolved · 103 currently active.

Newly reported shortagePosted
Pentostatin Injection2026-08-27
Liraglutide Injection2026-08-25
Mesalamine Capsule, Extended Release2026-08-25
Disopyramide Phosphate Capsule, Extended Release2026-08-24

Hottest conditions

Most new trials this week.

  • obesity disorder20
  • breast cancer19
  • cancer17
  • chronic pain syndrome13
  • type 2 diabetes mellitus13
  • cerebrovascular disorder11
  • prostate cancer11
  • gastric cancer11
  • hypertensive disorder10
  • asthma10

Most active sponsors

Industry sponsors, new trials · trailing 28 days.

  • AstraZeneca16
  • GlaxoSmithKline14
  • Novartis Pharmaceuticals12
  • Pfizer11
  • Boehringer Ingelheim10
  • Bristol-Myers Squibb9
  • Eli Lilly and Company9
  • Sichuan Baili Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.9
  • AbbVie8
  • Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC8

Molecules on the move

New links where the molecule is the studied intervention.

  • carboxyamidotriazole17
  • rhein16
  • trastuzumab deruxtecan15
  • bevacizumab13
  • aspirin11
  • buprenorphine11
  • warfarin11
  • bupivacaine hydrochloride; lidocaine hydrochloride11
  • bupivacaine; meloxicam11
  • capecitabine10

Device corner

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

0
New device clearances
119
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
600,815
US trials
11,619
EU trials
9,212
Molecules
36,006
Diseases (MONDO)
29,808
FDA drugs
2,732
EMA medicines
177,650
FDA devices
1,946,957
Verified drug–trial links
1,142,394
Publications

Trials by phase

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

Trials by sponsor type

  • OTHER72%
  • 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 tumor121,207
  • nervous system disorder115,892
  • hereditary disease81,321
  • digestive system disorder73,554
  • cardiovascular disorder70,842
  • endocrine system disorder55,450
  • psychiatric disorder53,488
  • musculoskeletal system disorder52,628
  • immune system disorder50,641
  • inflammatory disease49,053
  • respiratory system disorder47,160
  • infectious disease46,952
  • reproductive system disorder39,306
  • metabolic disease34,918
  • hematologic disorder33,268

Trials by country of site

Among the 80,541 trials with a mapped site location — not the whole corpus.

  • United States33,853
  • China8,990
  • France7,715
  • Canada5,442
  • Turkey (Türkiye)5,090
  • Spain4,886
  • United Kingdom4,809
  • Germany4,661
  • Italy4,541
  • South Korea3,045
  • Australia2,893
  • Belgium2,606
  • Poland2,575
  • Netherlands2,485
  • Egypt2,414

Top sponsors

SponsorTrials
Cairo University4,821
Assiut University4,784
GlaxoSmithKline3,634
National Cancer Institute (NCI)3,553
Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris3,544
AstraZeneca3,481
Pfizer3,302
Mayo Clinic3,236
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center3,025
Novartis Pharmaceuticals2,693
National Taiwan University Hospital2,598
Massachusetts General Hospital2,566
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)2,439
Boehringer Ingelheim2,290
University of California, San Francisco2,155
Riphah International University2,151
Stanford University2,149
Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC2,144
Hoffmann-La Roche2,084
Eli Lilly and Company2,080
Duke University2,046
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center1,947
Seoul National University Hospital1,891
Ain Shams University1,887
Hospices Civils de Lyon1,840

Most-studied conditions

ConditionTrials
breast cancer11,853
obesity disorder9,625
type 2 diabetes mellitus9,177
chronic pain syndrome8,852
cancer8,283
HIV infectious disease8,235
COVID-197,647
non-small cell lung carcinoma6,402
hypertensive disorder6,159
diabetes mellitus6,147
cerebrovascular disorder6,056
colorectal cancer6,050
coronary artery disorder5,964
prostate cancer5,875
depressive disorder5,866
cardiovascular disorder5,624
anxiety disorder4,945
heart failure4,919
injury4,509
Parkinson disease4,455
asthma4,440
cognitive disorder4,211
lung cancer4,077
benign essential hypertension3,900
neuralgia3,863

Most-studied molecules

MoleculeTrials
carboplatin7,225
paclitaxel5,599
isoniazid5,371
prednisolone5,317
cyclophosphamide5,136
ropivacaine4,900
dexamethasone4,830
bevacizumab4,655
cisplatin4,505
lidocaine3,654
aspirin3,430
gemcitabine3,205
bupivacaine3,154
pembrolizumab3,012
desoxycorticosterone acetate2,991
metformin2,988
sitagliptin and metformin hydrochloride2,969
rituximab2,954
meprednisone2,850
dapagliflozin metformin hydrochloride2,788
sitagliptin metformin hydrochloride2,779
docetaxel2,770
linagliptin and metformin hydrochloride2,766
fluorouracil2,739
alogliptin and metformin hydrochloride2,708

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
1,096
862
898
AstraZeneca
1,021
552
809
Pfizer
1,177
710
660
Novartis Pharmaceuticals
509
837
736
Boehringer Ingelheim
1,073
321
400
Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC
702
551
741
Hoffmann-La Roche
493
482
569
Eli Lilly and Company
831
537
550

Patent cliff — loss of exclusivity

FDA drugs whose exclusivity expires soon (distinct substances).

41
< 6 months
42
6–12 months
102
12–24 months
Drug (losing exclusivity < 6mo)Expires
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
Afamelanotide2026-10-08
Binimetinib2026-10-11
Acetaminophen; Ibuprofen Sodium2026-10-17
Tenapanor Hydrochloride2026-10-17
Pilocarpine Hydrochloride2026-10-17
Edoxaban Tosylate2026-10-18
Treprostinil Diolamine2026-10-18

Regulatory designations

FDA drugs carrying each designation.

16,504
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 hydrochloride1,969
  • sitagliptin and metformin hydrochloride1,962
  • sitagliptin metformin hydrochloride1,233
  • metformin961
  • ropivacaine881
  • prednisolone878
  • dapagliflozin metformin hydrochloride831
  • dexamethasone773

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.