Who runs clinical trials?
Universities, hospitals and nonprofits lead about 320,000 of the 461,000 clinical trials registered on ClinicalTrials.gov as of September 2026, about 7 in 10. Drug, device and other companies lead about 113,000, or about 1 in 4; the U.S. National Institutes of Health leads about 7,900. The lead sponsor is the organization responsible for the trial; others may help pay for it.
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Source and date
- Data as of
- Published
The data
| Lead sponsor | Clinical trials (all years) |
|---|---|
| Universities, hospitals and nonprofits | 320,285 |
| Companies | 113,484 |
| Other governments | 11,052 |
| U.S. National Institutes of Health | 7,881 |
| Other U.S. federal agencies | 4,309 |
| Research networks | 3,662 |
| Individuals | 459 |