Clinical Trials Scraper

Search ClinicalTrials.gov for studies by condition, intervention, sponsor, or keyword. Look up individual trials by NCT ID. No API key required. MCP-ready for AI agent integration.

What does it do?

Clinical Trials Scraper queries the ClinicalTrials.gov API v2 and returns structured data about clinical studies worldwide. It extracts trial metadata, eligibility criteria, interventions, outcomes, sponsors, and locations into clean, normalized JSON. Returns consistent output -- ready for analysis, pharma pipelines, or consumption by AI agents via MCP.

Use cases:

• Pharma pipeline intelligence -- track drug development across phases and therapeutic areas
• Competitive analysis -- monitor competitor clinical programs by sponsor, condition, or intervention
• Medical research -- find trials for specific conditions, drugs, or procedures
• Patient recruitment -- identify recruiting trials by condition, location, and eligibility
• Regulatory monitoring -- track trial status changes, completions, and terminations
• AI agent tooling -- expose as an MCP tool so AI agents can query clinical trial data in real time

Features

• 3 modes: search_studies, get_study, search_by_condition
• No API key required -- ClinicalTrials.gov API v2 is public
• No proxies needed -- direct API access to government infrastructure
• Rich filters -- condition, intervention, sponsor, phase, status, study type, date range
• Pagination -- automatically pages through large result sets
• Polite rate limiting -- default 0.2s between requests; retry with exponential backoff on failures
• State persistence -- survives Apify actor migrations mid-run
• Batch push -- outputs in batches of 25 for efficiency
• Free tier -- 25 results per run without a subscription
• MCP-ready -- stable JSON schema with schema_version, no missing keys

What data does it extract?

Studies

Field	Description
schema_version	Schema version (currently "1.0")
type	Always "study"
nct_id	ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (e.g., NCT05678901)
title	Official study title
acronym	Study acronym (if any)
overall_status	Current status (e.g., RECRUITING, COMPLETED)
start_date	Study start date
completion_date	Estimated or actual completion date
last_update_date	Last update posted date
brief_summary	Brief study description
conditions	Medical conditions studied
interventions	Drugs, devices, or procedures being tested
phases	Trial phases (e.g., PHASE1, PHASE2, PHASE3)
study_type	Study type (INTERVENTIONAL, OBSERVATIONAL)
enrollment	Number of participants
enrollment_type	Enrollment type (ACTUAL or ESTIMATED)
sponsor	Lead sponsor organization
collaborators	Collaborating organizations
sex	Eligible sex (ALL, MALE, FEMALE)
min_age	Minimum eligible age
max_age	Maximum eligible age
healthy_volunteers	Whether healthy volunteers accepted
primary_outcomes	Primary outcome measures
secondary_outcomes	Secondary outcome measures
locations	Study sites (facility, city, state, country)
study_url	Link to study on ClinicalTrials.gov

---

Input

Mode 1: Search Studies

Search for clinical trials by keyword, condition, intervention, or sponsor.

{
    "mode": "search_studies",
    "query": "lung cancer",
    "phase": ["PHASE3"],
    "status": ["RECRUITING"],
    "maxResults": 100
}

Search by intervention and sponsor:

{
    "mode": "search_studies",
    "intervention": "pembrolizumab",
    "sponsor": "Merck",
    "maxResults": 50
}

Mode 2: Get Study

Look up a specific study by NCT ID.

{
    "mode": "get_study",
    "nctId": "NCT04280705"
}

Mode 3: Search by Condition

Condition-focused search for clinical trials.

{
    "mode": "search_by_condition",
    "condition": "type 2 diabetes",
    "studyType": "INTERVENTIONAL",
    "phase": ["PHASE2", "PHASE3"],
    "maxResults": 200
}

Input Reference

Common fields:

Parameter	Default	Description
mode	search_studies	search_studies, get_study, or search_by_condition
query		General search term across all fields
nctId		NCT ID for get_study mode
condition		Disease or condition name
intervention		Drug, device, or procedure
sponsor		Sponsor organization
maxResults	100	Max results (1-1000; free tier capped at 25)
requestIntervalSecs	0.2	Seconds between requests
timeoutSecs	30	HTTP timeout
maxRetries	5	Retries on failure

Filter fields:

Parameter	Default	Description
status		Study status filter (e.g., RECRUITING, COMPLETED)
phase		Trial phase (e.g., PHASE1, PHASE2, PHASE3)
studyType		Study type (INTERVENTIONAL, OBSERVATIONAL)
dateFrom		Studies starting on or after (YYYY-MM-DD)
dateTo		Studies starting on or before (YYYY-MM-DD)

---

Output

Results are saved to the default dataset. Download them in JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML from the Output tab.

Example output

{
    "schema_version": "1.0",
    "type": "study",
    "nct_id": "NCT04280705",
    "title": "A Study of Nivolumab Plus Ipilimumab in Participants With Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer",
    "acronym": "",
    "overall_status": "COMPLETED",
    "start_date": "2020-03-15",
    "completion_date": "2024-06-30",
    "last_update_date": "2024-08-15",
    "brief_summary": "This study evaluated the combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab...",
    "conditions": ["Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer", "NSCLC"],
    "interventions": ["DRUG: Nivolumab", "DRUG: Ipilimumab"],
    "phases": ["PHASE3"],
    "study_type": "INTERVENTIONAL",
    "enrollment": 1200,
    "enrollment_type": "ACTUAL",
    "sponsor": "Bristol-Myers Squibb",
    "collaborators": [],
    "sex": "ALL",
    "min_age": "18 Years",
    "max_age": "",
    "healthy_volunteers": "No",
    "primary_outcomes": ["Overall Survival (OS)"],
    "secondary_outcomes": ["Progression-Free Survival (PFS)", "Objective Response Rate (ORR)"],
    "locations": ["Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, United States"],
    "study_url": "https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04280705"
}

---

Cost

This actor uses pay-per-event (PPE) pricing. You pay only for the results you get.

• $0.50 per 1,000 results ($0.0005 per result)
• No proxy costs -- public government APIs
• No API key costs -- ClinicalTrials.gov is free and public
• Free tier: 25 results per run (no subscription required)

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Technical details

• ClinicalTrials.gov API v2 (clinicaltrials.gov/api/v2/studies) for study search and retrieval
• No authentication required -- public government data
• Automatic pagination via nextPageToken
• Rate limited to 1 request per 0.2 seconds (configurable)
• Automatic retry with exponential backoff and jitter on failures
• Results pushed in batches of 25 for efficiency
• Actor state persisted across migrations
• No proxies, no browser, no cookies -- direct API access

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MCP Integration

This actor works as an MCP tool through Apify's hosted MCP server. No custom server needed.

• Endpoint: https://mcp.apify.com?tools=labrat011/clinical-trials-scraper
• Auth: Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_TOKEN>
• Transport: Streamable HTTP
• Works with: Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, Warp, Gemini CLI

Example MCP config (Claude Desktop / Cursor):

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "clinical-trials-scraper": {
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=labrat011/clinical-trials-scraper",
            "headers": {
                "Authorization": "Bearer <APIFY_TOKEN>"
            }
        }
    }
}

AI agents can use this actor to search clinical trials, look up study details, track drug development pipelines, and monitor trial status changes -- all as a callable MCP tool.

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FAQ

Do I need an API key?

No. ClinicalTrials.gov API v2 is public with no authentication required.

What status values can I filter by?

RECRUITING, NOT_YET_RECRUITING, ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING, COMPLETED, ENROLLING_BY_INVITATION, SUSPENDED, TERMINATED, WITHDRAWN.

What phase values can I filter by?

EARLY_PHASE1, PHASE1, PHASE2, PHASE3, PHASE4, NA.

How many studies are in ClinicalTrials.gov?

Over 500,000 studies from 200+ countries.

Can I combine filters?

Yes. All filters are AND-combined. For example, search for Phase 3 recruiting trials for lung cancer with a specific sponsor.

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Feedback

Found a bug or have a feature request? Open an issue on the actor's Issues tab in Apify Console.