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Condition (MeSH)

Central Nervous System Diseases

ClinicalTrials.gov lists 41,476 trials for Central Nervous System Diseases or a narrower condition beneath it. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) has the most among industry and government lead sponsors, with 374.

MeSH D002493 Nervous System Diseases C10
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Phase 1 Phase 1 2,970 Phase 1/2 Phase 1/2 1,093 Phase 2 Phase 2 4,075 Phase 2/3 Phase 2/3 563 Phase 3 Phase 3 2,816 Phase 4 Phase 4 1,798 Not applicable Not applicable 17,225 Observational Observational 10,818 Phase 1 Phase 1 2,970 Phase 1/2 Phase 1/2 1,093 Phase 2 Phase 2 4,075 Phase 2/3 Phase 2/3 563 Phase 3 Phase 3 2,816 Phase 4 Phase 4 1,798 Not applicable Not applicable 17,225 Observational Observational 10,818

Trials per phase (log scale)

2 more sections with rows

379 of the 41,476 trials are tagged with Central Nervous System Diseases itself; the rest are tagged with a narrower condition beneath it.

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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 Central Nervous System Diseases trials start? (37)

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. 125 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
  • Other (Expanded access, Unknown)

Top of scale: 2,907

1990: 9 trials (Observational 7, Phase 2 1, Phase 1/2 1) 1991: 21 trials (Observational 15, Not applicable 1, Phase 3 2, Phase 2 2, Phase 1 1) 1992: 21 trials (Observational 11, Not applicable 1, Phase 4 1, Phase 3 4, Phase 2 3, Phase 1 1) 1993: 34 trials (Observational 15, Not applicable 2, Phase 4 2, Phase 3 5, Phase 2 6, Phase 1/2 1, Phase 1 3) 1994: 31 trials (Observational 11, Not applicable 2, Phase 4 1, Phase 3 6, Phase 2 7, Phase 1 4) 1995: 44 trials (Observational 17, Not applicable 4, Phase 4 1, Phase 3 14, Phase 2/3 2, Phase 2 4, Phase 1/2 1, Phase 1 1) 1996: 49 trials (Observational 16, Not applicable 6, Phase 4 4, Phase 3 6, Phase 2/3 1, Phase 2 9, Phase 1 7) 1997: 68 trials (Observational 25, Not applicable 5, Phase 4 5, Phase 3 9, Phase 2 14, Phase 1/2 1, Phase 1 9) 1998: 96 trials (Observational 28, Not applicable 5, Phase 4 6, Phase 3 18, Phase 2/3 2, Phase 2 25, Phase 1/2 3, Phase 1 9) 1999: 117 trials (Observational 36, Not applicable 7, Phase 4 6, Phase 3 18, Phase 2/3 3, Phase 2 31, Phase 1/2 2, Phase 1 14) 2000: 178 trials (Observational 47, Not applicable 19, Phase 4 7, Phase 3 31, Phase 2/3 3, Phase 2 42, Phase 1/2 10, Phase 1 19) 2001: 218 trials (Observational 62, Not applicable 21, Phase 4 15, Phase 3 48, Phase 2/3 5, Phase 2 34, Phase 1/2 10, Phase 1 23) 2002: 311 trials (Observational 72, Not applicable 47, Phase 4 26, Phase 3 55, Phase 2/3 7, Phase 2 59, Phase 1/2 15, Phase 1 30) 2003: 414 trials (Other 1, Observational 108, Not applicable 53, Phase 4 48, Phase 3 76, Phase 2/3 15, Phase 2 73, Phase 1/2 14, Phase 1 26) 2004: 488 trials (Observational 107, Not applicable 73, Phase 4 52, Phase 3 93, Phase 2/3 8, Phase 2 93, Phase 1/2 18, Phase 1 44) 2005: 617 trials (Observational 128, Not applicable 93, Phase 4 66, Phase 3 99, Phase 2/3 10, Phase 2 132, Phase 1/2 22, Phase 1 67) 2006: 725 trials (Observational 163, Not applicable 123, Phase 4 77, Phase 3 126, Phase 2/3 14, Phase 2 134, Phase 1/2 15, Phase 1 73) 2007: 877 trials (Observational 210, Not applicable 155, Phase 4 81, Phase 3 124, Phase 2/3 20, Phase 2 147, Phase 1/2 29, Phase 1 111) 2008: 916 trials (Observational 212, Not applicable 172, Phase 4 76, Phase 3 113, Phase 2/3 22, Phase 2 159, Phase 1/2 40, Phase 1 122) 2009: 1,019 trials (Other 1, Observational 237, Not applicable 220, Phase 4 80, Phase 3 114, Phase 2/3 25, Phase 2 180, Phase 1/2 44, Phase 1 118) 2010: 1,045 trials (Observational 279, Not applicable 259, Phase 4 68, Phase 3 115, Phase 2/3 23, Phase 2 135, Phase 1/2 42, Phase 1 124) 2011: 1,126 trials (Observational 298, Not applicable 287, Phase 4 59, Phase 3 101, Phase 2/3 19, Phase 2 184, Phase 1/2 53, Phase 1 125) 2012: 1,240 trials (Other 1, Observational 329, Not applicable 385, Phase 4 77, Phase 3 106, Phase 2/3 26, Phase 2 147, Phase 1/2 50, Phase 1 119) 2013: 1,367 trials (Observational 334, Not applicable 550, Phase 4 82, Phase 3 98, Phase 2/3 21, Phase 2 128, Phase 1/2 43, Phase 1 111) 2014: 1,542 trials (Other 1, Observational 389, Not applicable 641, Phase 4 77, Phase 3 88, Phase 2/3 23, Phase 2 153, Phase 1/2 46, Phase 1 124) 2015: 1,698 trials (Observational 452, Not applicable 713, Phase 4 90, Phase 3 103, Phase 2/3 27, Phase 2 147, Phase 1/2 38, Phase 1 128) 2016: 1,795 trials (Other 1, Observational 445, Not applicable 801, Phase 4 74, Phase 3 89, Phase 2/3 27, Phase 2 180, Phase 1/2 51, Phase 1 127) 2017: 1,912 trials (Observational 498, Not applicable 887, Phase 4 60, Phase 3 101, Phase 2/3 28, Phase 2 163, Phase 1/2 46, Phase 1 129) 2018: 2,123 trials (Observational 575, Not applicable 976, Phase 4 80, Phase 3 118, Phase 2/3 23, Phase 2 179, Phase 1/2 44, Phase 1 128) 2019: 2,303 trials (Other 1, Observational 635, Not applicable 1,080, Phase 4 73, Phase 3 100, Phase 2/3 16, Phase 2 204, Phase 1/2 47, Phase 1 147) 2020: 2,117 trials (Observational 612, Not applicable 998, Phase 4 65, Phase 3 92, Phase 2/3 26, Phase 2 152, Phase 1/2 46, Phase 1 126) 2021: 2,739 trials (Other 2, Observational 809, Not applicable 1,330, Phase 4 66, Phase 3 123, Phase 2/3 27, Phase 2 197, Phase 1/2 53, Phase 1 132) 2022: 2,621 trials (Other 1, Observational 754, Not applicable 1,297, Phase 4 72, Phase 3 122, Phase 2/3 18, Phase 2 176, Phase 1/2 52, Phase 1 129) 2023: 2,805 trials (Observational 815, Not applicable 1,451, Phase 4 73, Phase 3 97, Phase 2/3 26, Phase 2 159, Phase 1/2 51, Phase 1 133) 2024: 2,907 trials (Observational 762, Not applicable 1,550, Phase 4 73, Phase 3 100, Phase 2/3 29, Phase 2 177, Phase 1/2 57, Phase 1 159) 2025: 2,844 trials (Observational 664, Not applicable 1,540, Phase 4 67, Phase 3 129, Phase 2/3 29, Phase 2 200, Phase 1/2 60, Phase 1 155)

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) 2,575
2025 2,844
2024 2,907
2023 2,805
2022 2,621
2021 2,739
2020 2,117
2019 2,303
2018 2,123
2017 1,912

Forecast of the full-year count, planned starts included, not rows of this table: about 3,200 trials starting in 2026 and about 2,900 in 2027, the average of the 24 months through September, counted as registered and carried forward, with about 0.7 times the starts already registered for the rest of 2026 added. 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 10 percent and ran about 4 percent high against the count later registered; forecasts made before the year began were off by about 25 percent and ran about 15 percent low against the count later registered, and had about 7 percent more error than repeating last year's count. The part-way figures are from forecasts that used a multiple fitted only on earlier years. A stricter check that trains only on older years did not support adding planned starts for conditions of this size: it ran about 6 percent high against the count later registered. 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 36 months from start to primary completion across 4,227 trials still running at the 2026-10-09 snapshot; registered median of 24 months across 23,560 trials with a primary completion typed Actual. Source: ClinicalTrials.gov / AACT (CTTI), public domain.

What phase are Central Nervous System Diseases trials in? (10)

Shown in this order: phase order.

Show the trials by phase as a table
Trials by phase
Phase Trials
Phase 1 2,970
Phase 1/2 1,093
Phase 2 4,075
Phase 2/3 563
Phase 3 2,816
Phase 4 1,798
Not applicable 17,225
Observational 10,818
Expanded access 113
Unknown 5

How many Central Nervous System Diseases trials are recruiting? (13)

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 2,154
Recruiting 5,807
Enrolling by invitation 485
Active, not recruiting 1,498
Available 33

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

Which lead sponsors run the most Central Nervous System Diseases trials? (4)

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
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) 374
VA Office of Research and Development 335
Pfizer 237
GlaxoSmithKline 216

Interventions as named in the registry (15)

Shown in this order: most trials first.

Interventions as named in the registry
Drug Trials
SOC: Temozolomide 166
Donepezil HCI (drug) 157
EC Aspirin 147
MRI 142
Control (placebo) group 141

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 Central Nervous System Diseases 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
Other 16,496 27
Pneumonia 7,507 828
MVE 6,060 1
Surgical and medical procedures 5,479 7
Cardiac disorders 3,961 12

Which publications cover Central Nervous System Diseases? (282)

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

Sub-conditions in MeSH (7)

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