The Clinical Trials Pulse

Week of Aug 31 – Sep 06, 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

933
New trials registered
-6.4% vs prior week
449
Trials completed
40
Terminated / withdrawn / suspended
470
Completion-date slips
7
New FDA approvals
1 month-to-date
0
New EMA authorisations
8
New drug shortages
103 active
331
Publications added

New trials by phase

Registered in the past 7 days.

  • NA698
  • PHASE293
  • PHASE182
  • PHASE342
  • PHASE434
  • EARLY_PHASE110

New trials by sponsor type

  • OTHER742
  • INDUSTRY143
  • OTHER_GOV33
  • UNKNOWN5
  • NIH5
  • NETWORK3
  • FED2

Status changes this week

Trials that moved to a new overall status.

  • COMPLETED449
  • RECRUITING310
  • ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING211
  • TERMINATED37
  • WITHDRAWN24
  • ENROLLING_BY_INVITATION15
  • SUSPENDED15
  • NOT_YET_RECRUITING9
  • TEMPORARILY_NOT_AVAILABLE2
  • APPROVED_FOR_MARKETING2
  • AVAILABLE1

Why trials stopped

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

  • NCT02476838 WITHDRAWN

    Study closed prior to enrollment of subiects

  • NCT02625961 TERMINATED

    Business Reasons

  • NCT02952144 SUSPENDED

    Ongoing adjustments

  • NCT02998502 TERMINATED

    minimum subject accrual complete

  • NCT03145857 TERMINATED

    The market approved 68Ga-DOTATATE (NETSPOT(R)) is now approved for public funding in Alberta and is considered standard of care. Furthermore, the manufacturer of the study Investigational Product (IP) is no longer supplying the IP.

  • NCT03367676 TERMINATED

    Due to slower than anticipated enrollment, the study was terminated early after 78 patients were recruited.

  • NCT03476941 TERMINATED

    Low enrollment rate

  • NCT03684317 WITHDRAWN

    technical problems with database

  • NCT04233736 WITHDRAWN

    No participants enrolled.

  • NCT04246177 TERMINATED

    Business Reasons

  • NCT04298541 WITHDRAWN

    Funding has not been solidified for the initiation of the study.

  • NCT04315233 TERMINATED

    No accrual in one year

New FDA approvals

1 approvals month-to-date.

SponsorDrugApproved
TEVA PHARMELAGOLIX, ESTRADIOL AND NORETHINDRONE ACETATE AND ELAGOLIX2026-09-01
DR REDDYSPOMALIDOMIDE2026-08-31
CIPLAPOMALIDOMIDE2026-08-31
QILU PHARM HAINANDIFELIKEFALIN ACETATE2026-08-31
SANDOZPOMALIDOMIDE2026-08-31
MACLEODS PHARMS LTDMAGNESIUM SULFATE; POTASSIUM SULFATE; SODIUM SULFATE2026-08-31
SPILPOMALIDOMIDE2026-08-31

New EMA authorisations

7.1% of the last year's EMA authorisations were conditional.

None authorised this period.

Drug shortage watch

8 new · 0 resolved · 103 currently active.

Newly reported shortagePosted
Glycerol Phenylbutyrate Oral Liquid2026-09-01
Insulin Glargine-aglr Injection2026-09-01
Insulin Lispro Injection2026-09-01
Insulin Lispro Protamine and Insulin Lispro Injection2026-09-01
Medroxyprogesterone Acetate Tablet2026-08-31
Metoprolol Succinate Tablet, Extended Release2026-08-31
Palovarotene Capsule2026-08-31
Potassium Chloride, Sodium Chloride, Calcium Chloride, and Magnesium Chloride Injection, Solution2026-08-31

Hottest conditions

Most new trials this week.

  • obesity disorder24
  • anxiety disorder20
  • altitude sickness14
  • cancer12
  • breast cancer12
  • type 2 diabetes mellitus12
  • heart failure11
  • chronic pain syndrome10
  • cerebrovascular disorder10
  • diabetes mellitus9

Most active sponsors

Industry sponsors, new trials · trailing 28 days.

  • Shanghai Minwei Biotechnology Co., Ltd17
  • AstraZeneca15
  • Pfizer14
  • Novartis Pharmaceuticals14
  • Eli Lilly and Company13
  • GlaxoSmithKline11
  • Bristol-Myers Squibb9
  • Sichuan Baili Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.9
  • Boehringer Ingelheim8
  • AbbVie7

Molecules on the move

New links where the molecule is the studied intervention.

  • norepinephrine bitartrate21
  • fentanyl20
  • fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan20
  • capecitabine18
  • carboxyamidotriazole16
  • bupivacaine; meloxicam14
  • bupivacaine hydrochloride; lidocaine hydrochloride14
  • buprenorphine13
  • bupivacaine hydrochloride; epinephrine13
  • bupivacaine hydrochloride; epinephrine bitartrate13

Device corner

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

0
New device clearances
40
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
25-0925-1126-0126-0326-0526-0726-08
601,748
US trials
11,663
EU trials
9,217
Molecules
36,015
Diseases (MONDO)
29,826
FDA drugs
2,733
EMA medicines
177,650
FDA devices
1,949,939
Verified drug–trial links
1,145,313
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%
  • NOT_YET_RECRUITING6%
  • TERMINATED6%
  • ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING4%
  • WITHDRAWN3%
  • ENROLLING_BY_INVITATION1%
  • SUSPENDED0%
  • WITHHELD0%

Top therapeutic areas

By linked trials (MONDO rollup).

  • cancer or benign tumor121,403
  • nervous system disorder116,163
  • hereditary disease81,409
  • digestive system disorder74,313
  • cardiovascular disorder70,973
  • endocrine system disorder56,181
  • psychiatric disorder53,602
  • musculoskeletal system disorder52,746
  • immune system disorder51,747
  • inflammatory disease49,138
  • respiratory system disorder47,241
  • infectious disease46,991
  • reproductive system disorder39,354
  • metabolic disease35,577
  • hematologic disorder33,312

Trials by country of site

Among the 82,912 trials with a mapped site location — not the whole corpus.

  • United States34,802
  • China9,324
  • France7,861
  • Canada5,565
  • Turkey (Türkiye)5,285
  • Spain4,998
  • United Kingdom4,912
  • Germany4,749
  • Italy4,667
  • South Korea3,088
  • Australia2,968
  • Belgium2,648
  • Poland2,613
  • Netherlands2,543
  • Egypt2,493

Top sponsors

SponsorTrials
Cairo University4,832
Assiut University4,808
GlaxoSmithKline3,636
National Cancer Institute (NCI)3,553
Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris3,548
AstraZeneca3,482
Pfizer3,305
Mayo Clinic3,239
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center3,025
Novartis Pharmaceuticals2,697
National Taiwan University Hospital2,600
Massachusetts General Hospital2,570
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)2,440
Boehringer Ingelheim2,290
University of California, San Francisco2,155
Riphah International University2,151
Stanford University2,151
Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC2,146
Hoffmann-La Roche2,084
Eli Lilly and Company2,084
Duke University2,048
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center1,949
Ain Shams University1,893
Seoul National University Hospital1,891
Hospices Civils de Lyon1,843

Most-studied conditions

ConditionTrials
breast cancer11,863
obesity disorder9,654
type 2 diabetes mellitus9,191
chronic pain syndrome8,860
cancer8,305
HIV infectious disease8,240
COVID-197,647
non-small cell lung carcinoma6,409
hypertensive disorder6,166
diabetes mellitus6,156
cerebrovascular disorder6,067
colorectal cancer6,060
coronary artery disorder5,971
prostate cancer5,882
depressive disorder5,871
cardiovascular disorder5,629
anxiety disorder4,967
heart failure4,931
injury4,514
Parkinson disease4,463
asthma4,443
cognitive disorder4,217
lung cancer4,084
neuralgia3,911
benign essential hypertension3,904

Most-studied molecules

MoleculeTrials
carboplatin7,233
paclitaxel5,607
isoniazid5,380
prednisolone5,339
cyclophosphamide5,141
ropivacaine4,915
dexamethasone4,835
bevacizumab4,664
cisplatin4,517
lidocaine3,668
aspirin3,444
gemcitabine3,218
bupivacaine3,169
pembrolizumab3,015
metformin2,996
desoxycorticosterone acetate2,993
sitagliptin and metformin hydrochloride2,974
rituximab2,958
meprednisone2,850
dapagliflozin metformin hydrochloride2,788
sitagliptin metformin hydrochloride2,784
docetaxel2,776
linagliptin and metformin hydrochloride2,771
fluorouracil2,749
alogliptin and metformin hydrochloride2,713

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
900
AstraZeneca
1,021
552
809
Pfizer
1,177
710
663
Novartis Pharmaceuticals
511
838
736
Boehringer Ingelheim
1,073
321
400
Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC
702
552
741
Eli Lilly and Company
834
537
551
Hoffmann-La Roche
493
481
570

Patent cliff — loss of exclusivity

FDA drugs whose exclusivity expires soon (distinct substances).

44
< 6 months
41
6–12 months
100
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
Dexamethasone2026-10-03
Risdiplam2026-10-03
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.

16,515
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
  • metformin963
  • ropivacaine882
  • prednisolone880
  • 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.