Skip to content
Pharma Observatory a Scientist.com platform

Condition (MeSH)

COVID-19

ClinicalTrials.gov lists 7,957 trials for COVID-19 or a narrower condition beneath it. Pfizer has the most among industry and government lead sponsors, with 67.

MeSH D000086382 Infections C01 C08
Email me this page as a PDF

Search trials, drugs, companies and investigators, and follow each one to the others. Individual plan, $249/seat/mo. Card required.

Phase 1 Phase 1 489 Phase 1/2 Phase 1/2 256 Phase 2 Phase 2 926 Phase 2/3 Phase 2/3 273 Phase 3 Phase 3 657 Phase 4 Phase 4 247 Not applicable Not applicable 1,874 Observational Observational 3,203 Phase 1 Phase 1 489 Phase 1/2 Phase 1/2 256 Phase 2 Phase 2 926 Phase 2/3 Phase 2/3 273 Phase 3 Phase 3 657 Phase 4 Phase 4 247 Not applicable Not applicable 1,874 Observational Observational 3,203

Trials per phase

1 more section with rows

7,567 of the 7,957 trials are tagged with COVID-19 itself; the rest are tagged with a narrower condition beneath it.

Get the COVID-19 report as a PDF

The PDF carries up to 50 rows of each section, where the page shows the first few, with the sources listed. Enter a work email and confirm it from the message we send, and the report follows by email.

When did COVID-19 trials start? (17)

Shown in this order: most recent first, 1990 onwards. 2026 is partial: trials registered with a 2026 start date so far, not a full year. 2 trials are registered to start in 2027 or later, and not listed here.

Trials over time, by phase

  • Phase 1
  • Phase 1/2
  • Phase 2
  • Phase 2/3
  • Phase 3
  • Phase 4
  • Not applicable
  • Observational

Top of scale: 3,572

1998: 1 trials (Observational 1) 2009: 1 trials (Observational 1) 2011: 3 trials (Observational 3) 2013: 3 trials (Observational 2, Phase 4 1) 2014: 5 trials (Observational 5) 2015: 4 trials (Observational 2, Phase 3 1, Phase 2 1) 2016: 9 trials (Observational 5, Not applicable 2, Phase 3 1, Phase 1 1) 2017: 11 trials (Observational 9, Phase 3 1, Phase 2 1) 2018: 12 trials (Observational 7, Phase 3 2, Phase 2 3) 2019: 45 trials (Observational 32, Not applicable 9, Phase 3 1, Phase 2 2, Phase 1/2 1) 2020: 3,572 trials (Observational 1,672, Not applicable 636, Phase 4 90, Phase 3 318, Phase 2/3 127, Phase 2 447, Phase 1/2 116, Phase 1 166) 2021: 2,144 trials (Observational 817, Not applicable 537, Phase 4 98, Phase 3 177, Phase 2/3 84, Phase 2 233, Phase 1/2 79, Phase 1 119) 2022: 1,065 trials (Observational 380, Not applicable 314, Phase 4 23, Phase 3 79, Phase 2/3 38, Phase 2 102, Phase 1/2 31, Phase 1 98) 2023: 572 trials (Observational 160, Not applicable 195, Phase 4 18, Phase 3 41, Phase 2/3 17, Phase 2 79, Phase 1/2 12, Phase 1 50) 2024: 242 trials (Observational 55, Not applicable 101, Phase 4 6, Phase 3 18, Phase 2/3 3, Phase 2 28, Phase 1/2 8, Phase 1 23) 2025: 149 trials (Observational 33, Not applicable 52, Phase 4 7, Phase 3 9, Phase 2/3 3, Phase 2 21, Phase 1/2 6, Phase 1 18)

Trials registered with a start date in each year, 1990 onward, stacked by phase (complete years only; the current partial year is in the table's notes). The table below lists the same counts, most recent years first.

Trials started per year
Year Trials started
2026 (partial year) 85
2025 149
2024 242
2023 572
2022 1,065
2021 2,144
2020 3,572
2019 45
2018 12
2017 11

Forecast of the full-year count, planned starts included, not rows of this table: about 110 trials starting in 2026 and about 140 in 2027, the average of the 24 months through September, counted as registered and carried forward. The rows of this table count trials registered so far with a start date in the year, planned starts included; the forecast looks ahead to the count for the whole year, so it is not the same measure. In backtests on conditions of this size, forecasts made part-way through the year were typically off by about 13 percent and ran about 12 percent low against the count later registered; forecasts made before the year began were off by about 19 percent and ran about 17 percent low against the count later registered, and had about the same error as repeating last year's count. These figures rest on a few years of history (target years from 2018 to 2025, varying by figure), place each condition as it is mapped today rather than as it was then, and score against a count for the newest year that was still being revised. Only condition series were scored.

Prediction, not a registry value: median of 21 months from start to primary completion across 478 trials still running at the 2026-10-09 snapshot; registered median of 8 months across 5,274 trials with a primary completion typed Actual. Source: ClinicalTrials.gov / AACT (CTTI), public domain.

What phase are COVID-19 trials in? (9)

Shown in this order: phase order.

Show the trials by phase as a table
Trials by phase
Phase Trials
Phase 1 489
Phase 1/2 256
Phase 2 926
Phase 2/3 273
Phase 3 657
Phase 4 247
Not applicable 1,874
Observational 3,203
Expanded access 32

How many COVID-19 trials are recruiting? (12)

Shown in this order: the order a trial moves through, from not yet recruiting to unknown.

Trials by recruitment status
Status Trials
Not yet recruiting 65
Recruiting 279
Enrolling by invitation 26
Active, not recruiting 200
Available 3

Status as registered on ClinicalTrials.gov. Each trial is counted once.

Which lead sponsors run the most COVID-19 trials? (5)

Shown in this order: most trials first. Lead sponsors the registry classes as industry, NIH, US federal, other government or network. A hospital or university the registry files as government can appear here. Sponsors it classes as academic or other are shown on the full page, because that class cannot separate an institution from a named investigator.

Lead sponsors
Sponsor Trials
Pfizer 67
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) 61
AstraZeneca 38
ModernaTX, Inc. 34
BioNTech SE 29

Which drugs are being tested for COVID-19? (5)

Shown in this order: most trials first. One row per drug, matched to a single molecule under all its names, ranked by number of trials.

Drugs tested
Drug Trials
BNT162B2 72
Remdesivir 70
Ivermectin 55
AVIGAN 37
MRNA-1273 32

Interventions as named in the registry (10)

Shown in this order: most trials first.

Interventions as named in the registry
Drug Trials
Hydroxychloroquin 128
Convalesscent Plasma 83
tocilizumab SC 40
COVID-19 Vaccine 34
1% Azithromycin 32

These are the names sponsors entered on ClinicalTrials.gov that we have not matched to a single molecule. Some are drugs under a brand or code name; others are procedures, doses or arm labels.

Which serious adverse events do COVID-19 trials report? (10)

Shown in this order: most subjects affected first. Subjects affected summed across trials, a cross-trial signal, not a rate.

Serious adverse events in this condition's trials
Adverse event Subjects affected Trials
Respiratory insufficiency 4,507 2
Respiratory failure 1,984 128
Death 1,378 51
Pneumonia 1,124 143
Acute respiratory failure 1,029 88

Which publications cover COVID-19? (9,531)

Shown in this order: major-topic papers first, then newest, then most linked to trials.

Sub-conditions in MeSH (1)

MeSH descendants one level down with at least one trial, most trials first.

Not on this page

Not measured: delivery record.

Checked, with nothing recorded for this condition: prevalence and rare-disease identity.

Browse all condition evidence pages