Clinical Trial Statistics — Live Data
How many clinical trials are recruiting right now? Updated live from ClinicalTrials.gov data.
Trials by Phase
Clinical trials progress through phases, each testing different aspects of a treatment. Phase 3 trials — the final step before FDA approval — account for 488 of all recruiting trials.
| Phase | Purpose | Trials | % of Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early Phase 1 | First-in-human dosing studies | 119 | 1.5% |
| Phase 1 | Safety and dosage testing (20-80 people) | 460 | 5.9% |
| Phase 1/2 | Combined safety and initial efficacy | 350 | 4.5% |
| Phase 2 | Efficacy and side effects (100-300 people) | 849 | 10.9% |
| Phase 2/3 | Expanded efficacy into large-scale testing | 97 | 1.2% |
| Phase 3 | Large-scale definitive testing (1,000-3,000 people) | 488 | 6.3% |
| Phase 4 | Post-approval monitoring | 368 | 4.7% |
Trials by Disease Area
Cancer research leads in trial volume, but cardiovascular, neurological, and mental health conditions also have substantial clinical trial activity.
Cancer & Oncology
Neurological
Cardiovascular
Mental Health
Top 20 Conditions by Trial Count
| # | Condition | Recruiting Trials |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Obesity | 145 |
| 2 | Colorectal Cancer | 132 |
| 3 | Stroke | 131 |
| 4 | Depression | 128 |
| 5 | Breast Cancer | 126 |
| 6 | Lung Cancer | 126 |
| 7 | Heart Failure | 126 |
| 8 | Hypertension | 120 |
| 9 | Anxiety | 120 |
| 10 | Multiple Sclerosis | 118 |
| 11 | Coronary Artery Disease | 118 |
| 12 | Ovarian Cancer | 115 |
| 13 | COPD | 115 |
| 14 | Type 2 Diabetes | 115 |
| 15 | Cervical Cancer | 114 |
| 16 | Pancreatic Cancer | 113 |
| 17 | Lymphoma | 112 |
| 18 | HIV | 111 |
| 19 | Bladder Cancer | 110 |
| 20 | Multiple Myeloma | 110 |
Who Sponsors Clinical Trials?
Clinical trials are funded by pharmaceutical companies, government agencies like the NIH, and academic medical centers. TrialFinder indexes trials from 993 unique sponsors.
Top 10 Sponsors
| # | Sponsor | Type | Trials |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris | OTHER | 91 |
| 2 | Mayo Clinic | OTHER | 49 |
| 3 | National Cancer Institute (NCI) | NIH | 44 |
| 4 | M.D. Anderson Cancer Center | OTHER | 44 |
| 5 | Hospices Civils de Lyon | OTHER | 44 |
| 6 | National Taiwan University Hospital | OTHER | 44 |
| 7 | University of Pennsylvania | OTHER | 44 |
| 8 | University of California, San Francisco | OTHER | 41 |
| 9 | Johns Hopkins University | OTHER | 41 |
| 10 | VA Office of Research and Development | FED | 41 |
Trials by State
Clinical trials are conducted across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. States with major academic medical centers tend to host the most trials.
Frequently Asked Questions
As of April 2026, there are 7,801 clinical trials actively recruiting participants indexed on TrialFinder. This represents a subset of the total trials registered on ClinicalTrials.gov, focused on recruiting studies with U.S. trial sites.
About 6.3% of recruiting trials are Phase 3, the final testing phase before potential FDA approval. Phase 3 trials are the largest and most rigorous, typically enrolling thousands of participants to confirm a treatment works.
Cancer conditions lead with the highest trial counts — obesity (145), colorectal cancer (132), and stroke (131) are among the top. Cardiovascular, neurological, and mental health conditions also have significant trial activity.
California leads with 1,246 trials, followed by Florida (857) and Texas (818). States with major academic medical centers tend to have the most trial activity.
Trials are sponsored by pharmaceutical companies (industry), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and academic medical centers. The top individual sponsors include Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris and other large research organizations.
Statistics computed from TrialFinder's index of recruiting clinical trials sourced from the ClinicalTrials.gov API. Trial counts reflect actively recruiting studies only. This site does not provide medical advice.