Skip to content
Pharma Observatory a Scientist.com platform

Condition (MeSH)

Chronic Disease

ClinicalTrials.gov lists 18,711 trials for Chronic Disease or a narrower condition beneath it. GlaxoSmithKline has the most among industry and government lead sponsors, with 339.

MeSH D002908 Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms C23
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 1,857 Phase 1/2 Phase 1/2 732 Phase 2 Phase 2 2,708 Phase 2/3 Phase 2/3 238 Phase 3 Phase 3 1,714 Phase 4 Phase 4 1,481 Not applicable Not applicable 5,435 Observational Observational 4,500 Phase 1 Phase 1 1,857 Phase 1/2 Phase 1/2 732 Phase 2 Phase 2 2,708 Phase 2/3 Phase 2/3 238 Phase 3 Phase 3 1,714 Phase 4 Phase 4 1,481 Not applicable Not applicable 5,435 Observational Observational 4,500

Trials per phase (log scale)

2 more sections with rows

776 of the 18,711 trials are tagged with Chronic Disease itself; the rest are tagged with a narrower condition beneath it.

Get the Chronic Disease 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 Chronic Disease 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. 39 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: 992

1990: 8 trials (Observational 2, Not applicable 1, Phase 2 5) 1991: 5 trials (Observational 2, Phase 2 3) 1992: 12 trials (Observational 4, Not applicable 1, Phase 4 1, Phase 3 1, Phase 2 3, Phase 1/2 1, Phase 1 1) 1993: 14 trials (Observational 4, Not applicable 1, Phase 4 1, Phase 3 4, Phase 2 4) 1994: 15 trials (Observational 5, Phase 3 1, Phase 2 6, Phase 1 3) 1995: 36 trials (Observational 5, Not applicable 6, Phase 3 6, Phase 2/3 1, Phase 2 7, Phase 1/2 5, Phase 1 6) 1996: 36 trials (Observational 4, Not applicable 3, Phase 3 8, Phase 2 11, Phase 1/2 2, Phase 1 8) 1997: 48 trials (Observational 2, Not applicable 5, Phase 4 1, Phase 3 12, Phase 2/3 1, Phase 2 12, Phase 1/2 3, Phase 1 12) 1998: 91 trials (Observational 8, Not applicable 2, Phase 4 4, Phase 3 14, Phase 2/3 3, Phase 2 36, Phase 1/2 6, Phase 1 18) 1999: 126 trials (Observational 14, Not applicable 9, Phase 4 2, Phase 3 20, Phase 2/3 2, Phase 2 36, Phase 1/2 7, Phase 1 36) 2000: 150 trials (Observational 26, Not applicable 14, Phase 4 4, Phase 3 24, Phase 2/3 1, Phase 2 48, Phase 1/2 11, Phase 1 22) 2001: 160 trials (Observational 20, Not applicable 16, Phase 4 11, Phase 3 22, Phase 2/3 2, Phase 2 52, Phase 1/2 13, Phase 1 24) 2002: 219 trials (Observational 18, Not applicable 23, Phase 4 30, Phase 3 56, Phase 2/3 1, Phase 2 51, Phase 1/2 12, Phase 1 28) 2003: 234 trials (Other 1, Observational 28, Not applicable 26, Phase 4 36, Phase 3 40, Phase 2/3 2, Phase 2 57, Phase 1/2 20, Phase 1 24) 2004: 333 trials (Observational 53, Not applicable 40, Phase 4 47, Phase 3 45, Phase 2/3 9, Phase 2 77, Phase 1/2 24, Phase 1 38) 2005: 451 trials (Observational 82, Not applicable 61, Phase 4 56, Phase 3 61, Phase 2/3 3, Phase 2 119, Phase 1/2 25, Phase 1 44) 2006: 480 trials (Other 2, Observational 90, Not applicable 54, Phase 4 71, Phase 3 61, Phase 2/3 11, Phase 2 109, Phase 1/2 21, Phase 1 61) 2007: 535 trials (Other 1, Observational 87, Not applicable 77, Phase 4 70, Phase 3 76, Phase 2/3 18, Phase 2 101, Phase 1/2 30, Phase 1 75) 2008: 619 trials (Other 1, Observational 116, Not applicable 104, Phase 4 82, Phase 3 69, Phase 2/3 5, Phase 2 129, Phase 1/2 30, Phase 1 83) 2009: 666 trials (Other 1, Observational 138, Not applicable 131, Phase 4 81, Phase 3 89, Phase 2/3 14, Phase 2 104, Phase 1/2 33, Phase 1 75) 2010: 683 trials (Observational 171, Not applicable 113, Phase 4 72, Phase 3 70, Phase 2/3 13, Phase 2 134, Phase 1/2 30, Phase 1 80) 2011: 764 trials (Observational 176, Not applicable 165, Phase 4 82, Phase 3 102, Phase 2/3 9, Phase 2 123, Phase 1/2 31, Phase 1 76) 2012: 749 trials (Other 1, Observational 149, Not applicable 162, Phase 4 81, Phase 3 120, Phase 2/3 9, Phase 2 124, Phase 1/2 26, Phase 1 77) 2013: 759 trials (Other 1, Observational 134, Not applicable 220, Phase 4 79, Phase 3 94, Phase 2/3 11, Phase 2 103, Phase 1/2 38, Phase 1 79) 2014: 827 trials (Observational 183, Not applicable 247, Phase 4 61, Phase 3 87, Phase 2/3 20, Phase 2 103, Phase 1/2 43, Phase 1 83) 2015: 801 trials (Observational 183, Not applicable 229, Phase 4 90, Phase 3 80, Phase 2/3 13, Phase 2 106, Phase 1/2 27, Phase 1 73) 2016: 829 trials (Observational 197, Not applicable 285, Phase 4 78, Phase 3 60, Phase 2/3 10, Phase 2 101, Phase 1/2 25, Phase 1 73) 2017: 812 trials (Observational 222, Not applicable 293, Phase 4 61, Phase 3 54, Phase 2/3 6, Phase 2 81, Phase 1/2 35, Phase 1 60) 2018: 772 trials (Observational 204, Not applicable 279, Phase 4 60, Phase 3 47, Phase 2/3 9, Phase 2 83, Phase 1/2 24, Phase 1 66) 2019: 853 trials (Other 1, Observational 230, Not applicable 327, Phase 4 45, Phase 3 45, Phase 2/3 8, Phase 2 105, Phase 1/2 24, Phase 1 68) 2020: 732 trials (Other 2, Observational 223, Not applicable 242, Phase 4 35, Phase 3 31, Phase 2/3 5, Phase 2 85, Phase 1/2 30, Phase 1 79) 2021: 940 trials (Observational 298, Not applicable 323, Phase 4 48, Phase 3 51, Phase 2/3 14, Phase 2 98, Phase 1/2 22, Phase 1 86) 2022: 958 trials (Other 2, Observational 307, Not applicable 362, Phase 4 32, Phase 3 53, Phase 2/3 6, Phase 2 86, Phase 1/2 24, Phase 1 86) 2023: 992 trials (Observational 286, Not applicable 412, Phase 4 32, Phase 3 47, Phase 2/3 8, Phase 2 97, Phase 1/2 25, Phase 1 85) 2024: 988 trials (Observational 286, Not applicable 407, Phase 4 47, Phase 3 42, Phase 2/3 6, Phase 2 87, Phase 1/2 25, Phase 1 88) 2025: 985 trials (Observational 284, Not applicable 403, Phase 4 37, Phase 3 57, Phase 2/3 9, Phase 2 106, Phase 1/2 29, Phase 1 60)

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) 855
2025 985
2024 988
2023 992
2022 958
2021 940
2020 732
2019 853
2018 772
2017 812

Forecast of the full-year count, planned starts included, not rows of this table: about 1,100 trials starting in 2026 and about 980 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 1,385 trials still running at the 2026-10-09 snapshot; registered median of 23 months across 12,164 trials with a primary completion typed Actual. Source: ClinicalTrials.gov / AACT (CTTI), public domain.

What phase are Chronic Disease trials in? (10)

Shown in this order: phase order.

Show the trials by phase as a table
Trials by phase
Phase Trials
Phase 1 1,857
Phase 1/2 732
Phase 2 2,708
Phase 2/3 238
Phase 3 1,714
Phase 4 1,481
Not applicable 5,435
Observational 4,500
Expanded access 40
Unknown 6

How many Chronic Disease 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 722
Recruiting 1,765
Enrolling by invitation 134
Active, not recruiting 724
Available 9

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

Which lead sponsors run the most Chronic Disease trials? (11)

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
GlaxoSmithKline 339
AstraZeneca 311
Novartis Pharmaceuticals 293
Boehringer Ingelheim 272
National Cancer Institute (NCI) 211

Which drugs are being tested for Chronic Disease? (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
Cytoxan 381
RITUXIMAB 319
PEGinterferon alfa-2a 169
Imatinib 144
Busulfan 143

Interventions as named in the registry (10)

Shown in this order: most trials first.

Interventions as named in the registry
Drug Trials
SQ Fludarabine 384
Ribavirine 340
Tiotropium bromide via (Spiriva® Handihaler®) 195
Peripheral blood stem cell transplantation 168
Mofetil Mycophenolate 162

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 Chronic Disease 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
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 15,403 460
Pneumonia 13,035 866
Invasive cancer of any type 4,851 1
Sepsis 3,319 547
Death 2,651 325

Which publications cover Chronic Disease? (12,895)

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

Sub-conditions in MeSH (26)

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