# ClinicalTrials.gov Study Scraper (`datahoeven/clinicaltrials-scraper`) Actor Fetch clinical trial studies from the official ClinicalTrials.gov v2 API. Filter by condition, intervention, phase, status, sponsor, and country. - **URL**: https://apify.com/datahoeven/clinicaltrials-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Daan Hoeven](https://apify.com/datahoeven) (community) - **Categories:** Lead generation, Automation, Other - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 0.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $3.00 / 1,000 study results This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## ClinicalTrials.gov Study Scraper **Fetch clinical trial studies directly from the official ClinicalTrials.gov v2 API.** Filter by condition, intervention, phase, status, sponsor, and country. Perfect for pharma research, competitive intelligence, pipeline monitoring, and trial recruitment analysis. --- ### What does it do? This Actor queries the official **ClinicalTrials.gov v2 API** and returns structured study data in a clean, uniform schema. No browser automation, no HTML parsing—pure HTTP JSON API calls for **low cost and 100% reliability**. **Key features:** - Search clinical trials by **condition**, **intervention**, **phase**, **status**, **sponsor**, **country** - Filter by **study type** (Interventional, Observational) - Paginate through thousands of results with a single run - **Cost control**: set a hard limit with `maxItems` - **Rich output**: NCT ID, title, phase, status, eligibility, locations, enrollment, dates, and more - **Schema-drift detection**: automatically skips malformed records and logs warnings --- ### Who is this for? #### Pharmaceutical & Biotech Companies - **Pipeline research**: monitor competitor trial activity by phase and indication - **Recruitment sourcing**: identify active studies matching your patient demographics - **Market intelligence**: track drug pipeline trends, identify unmet needs #### Clinical Research Organizations (CROs) - **Study inventory**: maintain up-to-date registries of relevant trials - **Site selection**: match investigations to recruitment locations - **Regulatory compliance**: track study status changes #### Medical Device & Healthcare - **Competitive monitoring**: watch for trials of competing products - **Partnership identification**: find co-development opportunities - **Investor diligence**: validate clinical pipeline claims #### Academics & Researchers - **Literature support**: complement PubMed searches with live trial data - **Meta-analysis**: bulk export studies for systematic reviews - **Recruitment assistance**: identify trials for patient cohorts #### Healthcare Investors & Advisors - **Asset evaluation**: validate company pipeline depth and quality - **Market sizing**: estimate addressable opportunity from trial volumes - **Risk monitoring**: track late-stage trial progress --- ### Example Input ```json { "conditions": ["Breast Cancer", "Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer"], "interventions": ["Drug: pembrolizumab"], "phases": ["PHASE2", "PHASE3"], "statuses": ["RECRUITING", "ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING"], "countries": ["United States"], "studyType": "INTERVENTIONAL", "maxItems": 1000, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true } } ```` #### Input Parameters | Parameter | Type | Description | Example | |-----------|------|-------------|---------| | `conditions` | string\[] | Filter by disease/condition | `["Diabetes", "Hypertension"]` | | `interventions` | string\[] | Filter by treatment type | `["Drug: metformin"]` | | `terms` | string\[] | Free-text search | `["immunotherapy"]` | | `sponsor` | string | Filter by lead sponsor | `"Pfizer Inc"` | | `statuses` | string\[] | Filter by recruitment status | `["RECRUITING"]` | | `phases` | string\[] | Filter by trial phase | `["PHASE2", "PHASE3"]` | | `countries` | string\[] | Filter by location | `["Netherlands", "Germany"]` | | `studyType` | string | INTERVENTIONAL or OBSERVATIONAL | `"INTERVENTIONAL"` | | `fields` | string\[] | Limit output fields (cost optimization) | `["nctId", "title", "status"]` | | `maxItems` | number | Hard result limit | `5000` | *** ### Example Output Each result is a structured **UniformStudy** object: ```json { "nctId": "NCT05123456", "title": "Phase 3 Study of ABC-123 in Advanced Lung Cancer", "officialTitle": "A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Phase 3 Trial of ABC-123 Monotherapy in Patients with Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer", "status": "RECRUITING", "phase": ["PHASE3"], "studyType": "INTERVENTIONAL", "conditions": ["Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer"], "interventions": ["Drug: ABC-123", "Drug: Placebo"], "sponsor": "BioPharma Corp", "sponsorClass": "INDUSTRY", "enrollmentCount": 500, "startDate": "2023-06-15", "completionDate": "2026-12-31", "locations": [ { "facility": "University Medical Center Amsterdam", "city": "Amsterdam", "country": "Netherlands" } ], "eligibility": { "minAge": "18 Years", "maxAge": null, "sex": "ALL", "healthyVolunteers": false }, "studyUrl": "https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05123456", "lastUpdate": "2024-12-15", "scrapedAt": "2025-06-05T14:30:00Z" } ``` *** ### Frequently Asked Questions #### How often is ClinicalTrials.gov updated? The source data updates daily. Run this Actor as frequently as needed to stay current. #### Can I search without filters? Yes! Leave all filter arrays empty to retrieve all studies. **Warning:** ClinicalTrials.gov contains ~500,000+ studies. Use `maxItems` to avoid unexpectedly high costs. #### What does "Phase" mean? - **Phase 0**: Exploratory studies (rare) - **Phase 1**: Safety & dosage (20–100 volunteers) - **Phase 2**: Efficacy & side effects (100–300 volunteers) - **Phase 3**: Efficacy & monitoring (1,000–3,000 volunteers) - **Phase 4**: Post-market surveillance - **NA**: Not applicable (observational, devices, etc.) #### What are typical study statuses? - **RECRUITING**: Actively seeking participants - **ACTIVE\_NOT\_RECRUITING**: Enrollment closed; study ongoing - **COMPLETED**: Ended; results may be available - **SUSPENDED / TERMINATED**: No longer active - **NOT\_YET\_RECRUITING**: Will begin recruiting soon #### How do I minimize costs? 1. **Use `maxItems`** to cap results 2. **Use `fields`** to select only columns you need 3. **Filter early** — narrow by condition, phase, or status to reduce data transferred 4. **Reduce pageSize** if building a pipeline (default 1000 per request) #### What if a study is missing fields? Null values are preserved. For example, some studies don't have enrollment counts, estimated completion dates, or specific locations. Your code should handle nulls gracefully. #### Can I detect schema changes? Yes. The Actor logs `SCHEMA_CHANGED` warnings and skips malformed records without failing. Check the run logs for warnings. #### What's the accuracy of location data? Locations come directly from ClinicalTrials.gov. Some studies have incomplete facility names or country data—filter and validate as needed. *** ### How It Works 1. **Input parsing**: validates your filters (conditions, phases, statuses, etc.) 2. **API query**: constructs v2 query parameters using the official filters 3. **Pagination**: fetches up to 1,000 results per request; continues until `maxItems` or all results 4. **Normalization**: maps raw `protocolSection` nesting to clean UniformStudy schema 5. **Output**: pushes results to dataset; charges per returned record (pay-per-result) 6. **Summary**: logs total count, returned items, and page count to run metadata *** ### API Pricing & Cost Control This Actor charges on a **pay-per-result** basis. Each returned study = 1 charge. **To minimize costs:** - Start with `maxItems: 100` to test your filters - Use `fields` to reduce payload size (optional cost savings) - Filter by phase/status/condition to narrow the search space - Run during off-peak hours if your plan allows rate-based scheduling *** ### Technical Details - **Runtime**: Node.js 20 + TypeScript - **HTTP client**: `got-scraping` with automatic retries, exponential backoff, and `Retry-After` header respect - **Tests**: 54 unit + integration tests (Vitest); 100% fixture-based - **API source**: Official [ClinicalTrials.gov v2 Data API](https://clinicaltrials.gov/data-api/api) - **No auth required**: public API endpoint *** ### Troubleshooting #### "No results found" - Verify your filters are spelled correctly (conditions are case-sensitive) - Try removing one filter at a time to identify the culprit - Check the actor logs for any API error messages #### "Unexpected number of results" - Phase filtering is strict (e.g., NA-phase studies cannot be filtered by phase) - Status filters use specific enum values (see input schema) - Some conditions may have many aliases; try synonyms #### "Slow pagination" - Large result sets (>10k) require multiple API requests. This is normal. - Use `maxItems` to set a ceiling - Consider filtering by status (e.g., `RECRUITING` only) #### "Null values in output" - This is expected. ClinicalTrials.gov is incomplete for some fields. - Use `fields` to select only columns your pipeline requires *** ### Keywords clinical trials, ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT, pharma data, drug trials, clinical research, biotech, trial monitoring, patient recruitment, regulatory, competitive intelligence, market research, medical devices, healthcare data, clinical pipeline *** ### Data Source All data comes directly from the official **ClinicalTrials.gov v2 Data API**:\ https://clinicaltrials.gov/data-api/api Data is in the public domain (U.S. National Library of Medicine). *** **Questions?** Contact the maintainer or check the [ClinicalTrials.gov FAQ](https://clinicaltrials.gov/about-site/about-ncbi/faq). **Last updated:** June 2026\ **Actor version:** 0.0.1 # Actor input Schema ## `conditions` (type: `array`): Search for studies by condition or disease name (e.g., 'Breast Cancer', 'Diabetes'). Leave empty to include all conditions. ## `interventions` (type: `array`): Filter studies by intervention or treatment type (e.g., 'Drug: X', 'Behavioral', 'Surgery'). Leave empty to include all interventions. ## `terms` (type: `array`): Optional free-text search terms. Searches across all study fields. ## `sponsor` (type: `string`): Filter studies by lead sponsor organization name (e.g., 'Pfizer', 'National Cancer Institute'). Leave empty to include all sponsors. ## `statuses` (type: `array`): Filter studies by overall status. Valid values: RECRUITING, NOT\_YET\_RECRUITING, ACTIVE\_NOT\_RECRUITING, ENROLLING\_BY\_INVITATION, SUSPENDED, TERMINATED, COMPLETED, WITHDRAWN, UNKNOWN. Leave empty for all statuses. ## `phases` (type: `array`): Filter studies by phase. Valid values: PHASE0, PHASE1, PHASE2, PHASE3, PHASE4, NA. Leave empty for all phases. ## `countries` (type: `array`): Filter studies by country of recruitment sites. Use ISO country names or codes. Leave empty for all countries. ## `studyType` (type: `string`): Filter studies by type: INTERVENTIONAL (testing a treatment) or OBSERVATIONAL (observing outcomes). Leave empty to include both. ## `fields` (type: `array`): Optional: limit output to specific fields to reduce costs. Leave empty to include all available fields. Supported fields: nctId, title, officialTitle, status, phase, studyType, conditions, interventions, sponsor, sponsorClass, enrollmentCount, startDate, completionDate, locations, eligibility, studyUrl, lastUpdate, scrapedAt. ## `maxItems` (type: `integer`): Hard limit on number of studies to return. Use this for cost control. Set to 0 (default) for no limit. ## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`): Optional proxy configuration. Leave empty to run without proxy (ClinicalTrials.gov is a public API). ## Actor input object example ```json { "conditions": [ "Breast Cancer", "Type 2 Diabetes" ], "interventions": [ "Drug: paclitaxel", "Radiation Therapy" ], "terms": [ "immunotherapy", "biomarker" ], "sponsor": "Pfizer Inc", "statuses": [ "RECRUITING", "ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING" ], "phases": [ "PHASE2", "PHASE3" ], "countries": [ "Netherlands", "United States" ], "studyType": "", "fields": [ "nctId", "title", "status", "phase" ], "maxItems": 1000 } ``` # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = {}; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("datahoeven/clinicaltrials-scraper").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = {} # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("datahoeven/clinicaltrials-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{}' | apify call datahoeven/clinicaltrials-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=datahoeven/clinicaltrials-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "ClinicalTrials.gov Study Scraper", "description": "Fetch clinical trial studies from the official ClinicalTrials.gov v2 API. Filter by condition, intervention, phase, status, sponsor, and country.", "version": "0.0", "x-build-id": "2oomnRhpJlIWNhKk1" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/datahoeven~clinicaltrials-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-datahoeven-clinicaltrials-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/datahoeven~clinicaltrials-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-datahoeven-clinicaltrials-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/datahoeven~clinicaltrials-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-datahoeven-clinicaltrials-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "conditions": { "title": "Conditions/Diseases", "type": "array", "description": "Search for studies by condition or disease name (e.g., 'Breast Cancer', 'Diabetes'). Leave empty to include all conditions.", "items": { "type": "string" }, "default": [] }, "interventions": { "title": "Interventions", "type": "array", "description": "Filter studies by intervention or treatment type (e.g., 'Drug: X', 'Behavioral', 'Surgery'). Leave empty to include all interventions.", "items": { "type": "string" }, "default": [] }, "terms": { "title": "Free Text Search", "type": "array", "description": "Optional free-text search terms. Searches across all study fields.", "items": { "type": "string" }, "default": [] }, "sponsor": { "title": "Sponsor", "type": "string", "description": "Filter studies by lead sponsor organization name (e.g., 'Pfizer', 'National Cancer Institute'). Leave empty to include all sponsors.", "default": "" }, "statuses": { "title": "Study Statuses", "type": "array", "description": "Filter studies by overall status. Valid values: RECRUITING, NOT_YET_RECRUITING, ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING, ENROLLING_BY_INVITATION, SUSPENDED, TERMINATED, COMPLETED, WITHDRAWN, UNKNOWN. Leave empty for all statuses.", "items": { "type": "string" }, "default": [] }, "phases": { "title": "Study Phases", "type": "array", "description": "Filter studies by phase. Valid values: PHASE0, PHASE1, PHASE2, PHASE3, PHASE4, NA. Leave empty for all phases.", "items": { "type": "string" }, "default": [] }, "countries": { "title": "Countries", "type": "array", "description": "Filter studies by country of recruitment sites. Use ISO country names or codes. Leave empty for all countries.", "items": { "type": "string" }, "default": [] }, "studyType": { "title": "Study Type", "enum": [ "", "INTERVENTIONAL", "OBSERVATIONAL" ], "type": "string", "description": "Filter studies by type: INTERVENTIONAL (testing a treatment) or OBSERVATIONAL (observing outcomes). Leave empty to include both.", "default": "" }, "fields": { "title": "Field Selection (Optional)", "type": "array", "description": "Optional: limit output to specific fields to reduce costs. Leave empty to include all available fields. Supported fields: nctId, title, officialTitle, status, phase, studyType, conditions, interventions, sponsor, sponsorClass, enrollmentCount, startDate, completionDate, locations, eligibility, studyUrl, lastUpdate, scrapedAt.", "items": { "type": "string" }, "default": [] }, "maxItems": { "title": "Maximum Results", "minimum": 0, "type": "integer", "description": "Hard limit on number of studies to return. Use this for cost control. Set to 0 (default) for no limit.", "default": 0 }, "proxyConfiguration": { "title": "Proxy Configuration", "type": "object", "description": "Optional proxy configuration. Leave empty to run without proxy (ClinicalTrials.gov is a public API)." } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```