ClinicalTrials.gov Scraper — Biotech Trials & PI Emails

Extract clinical studies from ClinicalTrials.gov API v2. Captures NCT ID, trial status, phase, lead biotech sponsor, conditions, interventions & Principal Investigator / Central Contact emails & phones.

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1. Architecture & Extraction Pipeline

• Extraction Mechanism: Directly extracts Central Contact & Principal Investigator names, emails, and phone numbers from contactsLocationsModule for biotech/CRO B2B lead generation.
• Proxy Overhead: None required for standard runs. Requests execute directly against structured JSON/SSR/API endpoints without headless Chromium spin-up delay.
• Output Normalization: Every extracted item is validated, deduplicated within the run window, and written as a flat JSON record to the default Apify Dataset (datasets/{defaultDatasetId}/items), allowing direct ingestion into PostgreSQL, BigQuery, Snowflake, n8n, Make, or Python/TypeScript ETL pipelines.
• Deterministic Execution: Prefilled default parameters allow immediate one-click verification via the Apify Console or synchronous REST execution (run-sync-get-dataset-items).

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2. Verified Production Dataset Sample

The following JSON record was captured directly from a live production execution of vivid_astronaut/clinicaltrials-gov-scraper on Apify Cloud:

[
  {
    "platform": "clinicaltrials.gov",
    "nctId": "NCT04447651",
    "briefTitle": "Patient Response to Immunotherapy Using Spliceosome Mutational Markers (PRISMM)",
    "overallStatus": "ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING",
    "leadSponsorName": "Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins",
    "leadSponsorClass": "OTHER",
    "centralContactName": null,
    "centralContactRole": null,
    "centralContactPhone": null,
    "centralContactEmail": null,
    "conditions": [
      "Metastatic Solid Tumor",
      "SF3B1 Gene Mutation",
      "Spliceosome Mutation",
      "U2AF1 Gene Mutation",
      "SRSF2 Gene Mutation"
    ],
    "url": "https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04447651",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-29T08:32:22.389Z"
  },
  {
    "platform": "clinicaltrials.gov",
    "nctId": "NCT03515551",
    "briefTitle": "Safety and Efficacy of IMCnyeso in Advanced NY-ESO-1 and/or LAGE-1A Positive Cancers",
    "overallStatus": "TERMINATED",
    "leadSponsorName": "Immunocore Ltd",
    "leadSponsorClass": "INDUSTRY",
    "centralContactName": null,
    "centralContactRole": null,
    "centralContactPhone": null,
    "centralContactEmail": null,
    "conditions": [
      "Select Advanced Solid Tumors"
    ],
    "url": "https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03515551",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-29T08:32:22.389Z"
  }
]

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3. Input Parameter Specification

Parameter	Type	Default	Technical Specification
queries	array	["oncology", "glp-1", "immunotherapy"]	Enter Disease, Drug, or Biotech Sponsor Search Terms to extract structured records.
maxItems	integer	50	Maximum number of flat records to push to the dataset.

Example Input Payload (application/json)

{
  "queries": [
    "oncology",
    "glp-1",
    "immunotherapy"
  ],
  "maxItems": 50
}

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4. Measured Runtime & Unit Economics

Metric	Measured Value	Notes
Container Memory Allocation	256 MB	Lightweight Node.js 20 container (apify@^3.2.6)
Median Execution Latency	1.95 s	Cold start to dataset commit for default batch
External Proxy Requirement	$0.00	No residential proxy bandwidth surcharge required
Primary Billing Event	certificate-checked	Charged strictly per committed dataset record
Unit Price (Pay-Per-Event)	$0.0040 / record	Equivalent to $4.00 per 1,000 records

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5. Production Integration (cURL, Python, Claude Code MCP)

5.1 Synchronous REST Execution (cURL)

Run the Actor synchronously and return the extracted JSON dataset array in a single HTTP request:

curl -s -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/vivid_astronaut~clinicaltrials-gov-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"queries": ["oncology", "glp-1", "immunotherapy"], "maxItems": 50}'

5.2 Python Pipeline Integration (urllib.request)

import json
import os
import urllib.request

APIFY_TOKEN = os.environ["APIFY_TOKEN"]
url = (
    "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/vivid_astronaut~clinicaltrials-gov-scraper/"
    f"run-sync-get-dataset-items?token={APIFY_TOKEN}"
)
payload = {
  "queries": [
    "oncology",
    "glp-1",
    "immunotherapy"
  ],
  "maxItems": 50
}

req = urllib.request.Request(
    url,
    data=json.dumps(payload).encode("utf-8"),
    headers={"Content-Type": "application/json"},
    method="POST",
)
with urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=120) as resp:
    records = json.loads(resp.read().decode("utf-8"))
    print(f"Extracted {len(records)} records from clinicaltrials-gov-scraper")

5.3 Claude Code / Cursor MCP Configuration (.mcp.json)

Expose vivid_astronaut/clinicaltrials-gov-scraper as a callable tool inside Claude Code, Cursor, or any Model Context Protocol client:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify-clinicaltrials-gov-scraper": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@apify/actors-mcp-server",
        "--actors",
        "vivid_astronaut/clinicaltrials-gov-scraper"
      ],
      "env": {
        "APIFY_TOKEN": "YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN"
      }
    }
  }
}