Trials Registered in the Last Decade
(WHO & AdisInsight 2014 - 2024)
Trials registered in 10 years as per WHO (2014 - 15th April 2024)
The number of registered trials has steadily increased over the past 10 years. In 2014, 181,220 trials were registered; by the first quarter of 2024, this number had risen to 491,306. Significant growth is anticipated in the coming years.
Trials registered globally (2014 - 15th April 2024)
Fig 7: Trials registered in 10 years (2014 - 15th April 2024)
New Trials records in AdisInsight database (2014-Oct 2024)
Over the past decade, the landscape of clinical trials has undergone significant shifts, with the period between 2014 and September 2024 marked by several noteworthy trends. A comprehensive analysis of clinical trial profiles in the AdisInsight database reveals a steady increase in the number of trials registered each year, driven by various factors, including medical advancements, technological innovation, and public health emergencies. The most notable year in this analysis is 2020, which saw an unprecedented surge in the number of clinical trials. This spike can be largely attributed to the global COVID-19 pandemic. As the virus spread rapidly, there was an urgent and widespread need for evidence-based interventions to combat the pandemic’s far-reaching clinical and public health effects. Researchers and organizations around the world shifted their focus to understanding the virus, developing treatments, and testing vaccines. The AdisInsight database, which tracks clinical trials across multiple therapeutic areas, reflected this dramatic increase in the volume of COVID-19-related trials. In fact, the number of registered trials grew at an unprecedented pace, with new COVID-19 studies being added to the database on a daily basis.
Number of trials created in AdisInsight database (2014-Oct 2024)
Fig 8: Trials created in AdisInsight database in the past 10 years (2014-Oct 2024)
The high number of trials in 2020 encompassed a broad range of areas, including antiviral therapies, vaccine development, diagnostic methods, and treatment regimens aimed at managing the severe outcomes of COVID-19. The global collaboration across institutions, governments, and pharmaceutical companies accelerated the pace of innovation and research during this period. Beyond the pandemic, the decade also saw evolving trends in clinical trial focus. Key therapeutic areas such as oncology, neurology, and cardiovascular diseases continued to dominate, reflecting the ongoing global burden of these conditions. However, the COVID-19 pandemic shifted a significant portion of research activity towards infectious diseases, immunology, and respiratory medicine, fields that had previously not been as prominent in clinical trial registries. Another noteworthy trend has been the increasing number of trials exploring personalized medicine, gene therapies, and advanced biologics. Over the last ten years, the growing emphasis on precision medicine, combined with breakthroughs in genomics and biotechnology, has spurred a rise in trials targeting rare diseases and complex genetic conditions.