Clinical Trials & PubMed Evidence Gap Report

Biomedical research, medical affairs, and evidence teams use this Actor to compare ClinicalTrials.gov records with PubMed citation metadata. Input trial-literature watchlists, NCT IDs, conditions, interventions, PubMed queries, and a recurring monitor key. Get source-linked evidence rows, trial-to-literature gap alerts, evidence reports, and research exports from official APIs.

Start with a low-cost paid trial

Use this capped input to verify the source and buyer-facing output before buying a full report. It disables the report and export events and caps the run at $0.50. It delivers both a source row (biomedical-evidence-row, $0.008) and a buyer-facing signal (evidence-gap-alert, $0.15) when the starter evidence matches. A zero-row run has zero event charge.

{
  "searchTerms": [],
  "watchlists": [
    {
      "id": "starter-study",
      "nctIds": [
        "NCT04280705"
      ],
      "maxStudies": 1
    }
  ],
  "fromDate": "2025",
  "sort": "most_recent",
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 1,
  "maxArticles": 1,
  "maxStudiesPerWatchlist": 1,
  "maxPagesPerWatchlist": 1,
  "runMode": "monitor",
  "monitorKey": "starter-nct04280705-v2",
  "initialRunMode": "emit_backfill",
  "emitRawRows": true,
  "generateReport": false,
  "generateExport": false,
  "emitUnchanged": false,
  "maxChargeUsd": 0.5,
  "dryRun": false
}

When the result fits your workflow, use the separate state key below to generate the full biomedical-evidence-report output ($5.00) and biomedical-evidence-export export ($3.00). The cap covers the selected report/export path; unchanged monitoring runs still produce zero rows and zero event charge.

{
  "searchTerms": [],
  "watchlists": [
    {
      "id": "starter-study",
      "nctIds": [
        "NCT04280705"
      ],
      "maxStudies": 1
    }
  ],
  "fromDate": "2025",
  "sort": "most_recent",
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 1,
  "maxArticles": 1,
  "maxStudiesPerWatchlist": 1,
  "maxPagesPerWatchlist": 1,
  "runMode": "monitor",
  "monitorKey": "starter-nct04280705-v2-full-report-v1",
  "initialRunMode": "emit_backfill",
  "emitRawRows": false,
  "generateReport": true,
  "generateExport": true,
  "emitUnchanged": false,
  "maxChargeUsd": 8.41,
  "dryRun": false
}

Store Quickstart

{
  "watchlists": [{
    "id": "cancer-immunotherapy",
    "conditions": ["cancer"],
    "interventions": ["immunotherapy"],
    "pubmedQuery": "cancer immunotherapy clinical trial"
  }],
  "searchTerms": ["cancer immunotherapy clinical trial"],
  "fromDate": "2026",
  "sort": "most_recent",
  "maxArticles": 25,
  "runMode": "monitor",
  "monitorKey": "cancer-immunotherapy-evidence",
  "initialRunMode": "emit_backfill",
  "emitRawRows": false,
  "generateReport": true,
  "generateExport": false,
  "maxChargeUsd": 3,
  "dryRun": false
}

The default initialRunMode: "baseline_only" stores the first trial and literature baseline with zero rows and zero charge. An unchanged later run also emits zero rows and zero charge.

Run the next report

This Actor is the PubMed literature stage of the research workflow. Use generateReport: true for a current literature update, and set generateExport: true with emitRawRows: false when the deliverable is a systematic-review screening/reference export. Keep a stable monitorKey for recurring updates; the first baseline and later unchanged checks remain zero-row and zero-charge runs.

{
  "pmids": ["39763750", "39763800"],
  "runMode": "extract",
  "emitRawRows": false,
  "generateReport": true,
  "generateExport": true,
  "maxChargeUsd": 8,
  "dryRun": false
}

When starting from NIH funding work, first use NIH RePORTER Funding Landscape Report and NIH Grant Publication Linkage & Output Report, then use this Actor for the literature update/export step.

See also

• NIH Grant Publication Linkage & Output Report for grant-to-publication links.
• NIH RePORTER Funding Landscape Report for the preceding funding landscape.
• OpenAlex Research Intelligence for broader cross-domain publication discovery.

Input examples

Current literature report

{
  "searchTerms": ["GLP-1 obesity"],
  "fromDate": "2025",
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 25,
  "maxArticles": 50,
  "runMode": "audit",
  "emitRawRows": false,
  "generateReport": true,
  "dryRun": false
}

PMID metadata export

{
  "pmids": ["39763750", "39763800"],
  "runMode": "extract",
  "emitRawRows": true,
  "generateReport": false,
  "generateExport": true,
  "dryRun": false
}

New-publication monitor

{
  "searchTerms": ["CAR-T solid tumor"],
  "sort": "most_recent",
  "maxArticles": 100,
  "runMode": "monitor",
  "monitorKey": "car-t-solid-tumor-watch",
  "initialRunMode": "baseline_only",
  "emitRawRows": false,
  "generateReport": true,
  "generateExport": false,
  "dryRun": false
}

The first baseline-only monitor emits no rows. Later runs emit only changed trials, newly observed PMIDs, evidence gaps, and requested reports.

Sample output

{
  "rowType": "literature_update_report",
  "billingEventName": "biomedical-evidence-report",
  "query": {
    "searchTerms": ["cancer immunotherapy"],
    "fromDate": "2026"
  },
  "articleCount": 12,
  "pmids": ["39763750", "39763800"],
  "topJournals": [{"value": "Cancer Research", "count": 3}],
  "summary": "12 PubMed publications matched this literature update.",
  "sourceUrl": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/"
}

Pricing

Event	Price	Emitted when
biomedical-evidence-row	$0.008	A normalized trial or literature evidence row is emitted
evidence-gap-alert	$0.15	A saved monitor observes a source-linked evidence gap
biomedical-evidence-report	$5.00	A trial and literature evidence report is generated
biomedical-evidence-export	$3.00	A normalized evidence export is generated

There is no start charge. Use emitRawRows: false for report-first runs, and maxChargeUsd to cap planned Actor charges.

Source and limits

• Uses official NCBI ESearch and ESummary JSON endpoints; no browser scraping or login is required.
• An optional free NCBI API key increases the documented request allowance. Keyless mode is paced conservatively.
• This Actor exports citation metadata, not article full text or abstracts.
• PubMed records can be incomplete or updated after publication.

Compliance

Outputs support literature research and screening workflows. They are not medical advice, clinical efficacy claims, or a substitute for reviewing the source publication. Keep NCBI attribution and source URLs in downstream reports.