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Condition (MeSH)

Cough

ClinicalTrials.gov lists 497 trials for Cough or a narrower condition beneath it. Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has the most among industry and government lead sponsors, with 11.

MeSH D003371 Respiratory Tract Diseases C08 C23
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Phase 1 Phase 1 38 Phase 1/2 Phase 1/2 11 Phase 2 Phase 2 57 Phase 2/3 Phase 2/3 2 Phase 3 Phase 3 49 Phase 4 Phase 4 50 Not applicable Not applicable 170 Observational Observational 120 Phase 1 Phase 1 38 Phase 1/2 Phase 1/2 11 Phase 2 Phase 2 57 Phase 2/3 Phase 2/3 2 Phase 3 Phase 3 49 Phase 4 Phase 4 50 Not applicable Not applicable 170 Observational Observational 120

Trials per phase (log scale)

410 of the 497 trials are tagged with Cough itself; the rest are tagged with a narrower condition beneath it.

Get the Cough 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 Cough trials start? (27)

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. 4 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: 35

1995: 1 trials (Observational 1) 2001: 2 trials (Not applicable 1, Phase 2 1) 2002: 3 trials (Observational 1, Not applicable 2) 2003: 2 trials (Not applicable 1, Phase 1/2 1) 2004: 5 trials (Not applicable 3, Phase 1/2 1, Phase 1 1) 2005: 7 trials (Observational 2, Not applicable 2, Phase 4 1, Phase 2 1, Phase 1 1) 2006: 8 trials (Observational 4, Phase 3 4) 2007: 10 trials (Observational 2, Phase 4 2, Phase 3 2, Phase 2 4) 2008: 8 trials (Observational 2, Not applicable 3, Phase 3 1, Phase 2 1, Phase 1 1) 2009: 10 trials (Observational 2, Not applicable 3, Phase 3 4, Phase 2 1) 2010: 17 trials (Observational 4, Not applicable 7, Phase 4 4, Phase 3 2) 2011: 22 trials (Observational 6, Not applicable 4, Phase 4 5, Phase 3 3, Phase 2 1, Phase 1/2 1, Phase 1 2) 2012: 25 trials (Observational 9, Not applicable 9, Phase 4 2, Phase 3 3, Phase 1 2) 2013: 20 trials (Observational 4, Not applicable 6, Phase 4 5, Phase 3 2, Phase 2 1, Phase 1/2 1, Phase 1 1) 2014: 18 trials (Observational 2, Not applicable 7, Phase 4 3, Phase 3 1, Phase 2/3 1, Phase 2 1, Phase 1/2 1, Phase 1 2) 2015: 20 trials (Observational 3, Not applicable 6, Phase 3 1, Phase 2 8, Phase 1/2 1, Phase 1 1) 2016: 14 trials (Observational 3, Not applicable 5, Phase 4 4, Phase 3 1, Phase 2 1) 2017: 14 trials (Observational 4, Not applicable 5, Phase 4 1, Phase 2 2, Phase 1/2 1, Phase 1 1) 2018: 30 trials (Observational 8, Not applicable 6, Phase 3 6, Phase 2 5, Phase 1/2 2, Phase 1 3) 2019: 26 trials (Observational 1, Not applicable 12, Phase 4 3, Phase 3 4, Phase 2 5, Phase 1 1) 2020: 32 trials (Observational 8, Not applicable 12, Phase 4 1, Phase 3 3, Phase 2 6, Phase 1 2) 2021: 32 trials (Observational 10, Not applicable 11, Phase 4 4, Phase 3 2, Phase 2 4, Phase 1 1) 2022: 35 trials (Observational 8, Not applicable 14, Phase 4 3, Phase 3 3, Phase 2 2, Phase 1 5) 2023: 35 trials (Observational 10, Not applicable 13, Phase 4 3, Phase 2 4, Phase 1 5) 2024: 30 trials (Observational 8, Not applicable 11, Phase 4 1, Phase 2 4, Phase 1/2 1, Phase 1 5) 2025: 32 trials (Observational 9, Not applicable 10, Phase 4 3, Phase 3 7, Phase 2/3 1, Phase 1/2 1, Phase 1 1)

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) 34
2025 32
2024 30
2023 35
2022 35
2021 32
2020 32
2019 26
2018 30
2017 14

Forecast of the full-year count, planned starts included, not rows of this table: about 41 trials starting in 2026 and about 35 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 15 percent and ran about 1 percent high against the count later registered; forecasts made before the year began were off by about 26 percent and ran about 20 percent low against the count later registered. The part-way figures are from forecasts that used a multiple fitted only on earlier years. 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 32 months from start to primary completion across 27 trials still running at the 2026-10-09 snapshot; registered median of 13 months across 310 trials with a primary completion typed Actual. Source: ClinicalTrials.gov / AACT (CTTI), public domain.

What phase are Cough trials in? (8)

Shown in this order: phase order.

Show the trials by phase as a table
Trials by phase
Phase Trials
Phase 1 38
Phase 1/2 11
Phase 2 57
Phase 2/3 2
Phase 3 49
Phase 4 50
Not applicable 170
Observational 120

How many Cough trials are recruiting? (9)

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 25
Recruiting 54
Enrolling by invitation 2
Active, not recruiting 8
Completed 283

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

Which lead sponsors run the most Cough trials? (7)

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
Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust 11
Bellus Health Inc. - a GSK company 10
Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC 10
Bayer 8
Afferent Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc. (Rahway, New Jersey USA) 7

Which drugs are being tested for Cough? (8)

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
Gefapixant 16
Montelukast 10
BLU-5937 10
Remifentanil 8
Omeprazole 20 mg 3

Interventions as named in the registry (7)

Shown in this order: most trials first.

Interventions as named in the registry
Drug Trials
L:Lidocaine 8
1% Azithromycin 4
NAL ER 4
Capsaicin 8% 4
Dextromethorphan syrup 4

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 Cough 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
Pneumonia 21 9
Respiratory failure 8 3
Asthma 7 4
Bronchitis 6 4
Cerebrovascular accident 5 4

Which publications cover Cough? (1,073)

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