Skip to content
Pharma Observatory a Scientist.com platform

Condition (MeSH)

Pleural Effusion

ClinicalTrials.gov lists 366 trials for Pleural Effusion or a narrower condition beneath it. National Cancer Institute (NCI) has the most among industry and government lead sponsors, with 8.

MeSH D010996 Respiratory Tract Diseases 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 34 Phase 1/2 Phase 1/2 8 Phase 2 Phase 2 46 Phase 2/3 Phase 2/3 4 Phase 3 Phase 3 12 Phase 4 Phase 4 19 Not applicable Not applicable 125 Observational Observational 118 Phase 1 Phase 1 34 Phase 1/2 Phase 1/2 8 Phase 2 Phase 2 46 Phase 2/3 Phase 2/3 4 Phase 3 Phase 3 12 Phase 4 Phase 4 19 Not applicable Not applicable 125 Observational Observational 118

Trials per phase (log scale)

228 of the 366 trials are tagged with Pleural Effusion itself; the rest are tagged with a narrower condition beneath it.

Get the Pleural Effusion 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 Pleural Effusion trials start? (30)

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.

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: 24

1994: 1 trials (Phase 3 1) 1997: 1 trials (Phase 3 1) 1998: 1 trials (Observational 1) 1999: 3 trials (Phase 2 1, Phase 1 2) 2000: 2 trials (Phase 2 1, Phase 1 1) 2002: 3 trials (Observational 1, Phase 3 1, Phase 1 1) 2003: 6 trials (Not applicable 1, Phase 4 1, Phase 3 1, Phase 2 1, Phase 1 2) 2004: 6 trials (Observational 2, Not applicable 1, Phase 4 1, Phase 2 2) 2005: 9 trials (Observational 4, Not applicable 1, Phase 4 1, Phase 2 3) 2006: 15 trials (Observational 7, Not applicable 3, Phase 2 3, Phase 1 2) 2007: 9 trials (Observational 2, Not applicable 1, Phase 2/3 1, Phase 2 5) 2008: 10 trials (Observational 2, Not applicable 1, Phase 3 2, Phase 2/3 1, Phase 2 3, Phase 1/2 1) 2009: 12 trials (Observational 2, Not applicable 2, Phase 4 1, Phase 3 2, Phase 2 4, Phase 1 1) 2010: 10 trials (Observational 4, Not applicable 1, Phase 4 1, Phase 2 3, Phase 1 1) 2011: 10 trials (Observational 2, Not applicable 4, Phase 3 1, Phase 2/3 1, Phase 2 2) 2012: 8 trials (Observational 3, Not applicable 3, Phase 3 1, Phase 2 1) 2013: 8 trials (Observational 1, Not applicable 3, Phase 2 1, Phase 1 3) 2014: 19 trials (Observational 9, Not applicable 7, Phase 2 2, Phase 1 1) 2015: 17 trials (Observational 4, Not applicable 7, Phase 4 2, Phase 3 1, Phase 2 2, Phase 1 1) 2016: 23 trials (Observational 10, Not applicable 6, Phase 4 1, Phase 2/3 1, Phase 2 3, Phase 1 2) 2017: 18 trials (Observational 7, Not applicable 8, Phase 4 2, Phase 2 1) 2018: 17 trials (Observational 5, Not applicable 8, Phase 4 2, Phase 2 2) 2019: 17 trials (Observational 3, Not applicable 9, Phase 1/2 3, Phase 1 2) 2020: 24 trials (Observational 8, Not applicable 11, Phase 4 1, Phase 2 2, Phase 1 2) 2021: 14 trials (Observational 7, Not applicable 2, Phase 4 3, Phase 3 1, Phase 1 1) 2022: 18 trials (Observational 8, Not applicable 6, Phase 1/2 3, Phase 1 1) 2023: 23 trials (Observational 8, Not applicable 11, Phase 4 1, Phase 1 3) 2024: 24 trials (Observational 10, Not applicable 8, Phase 4 1, Phase 1 5) 2025: 16 trials (Observational 3, Not applicable 11, Phase 4 1, Phase 2 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) 22
2025 16
2024 24
2023 23
2022 18
2021 14
2020 24
2019 17
2018 17
2017 18

Forecast of the full-year count, planned starts included, not rows of this table: about 27 trials starting in 2026 and about 23 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 33 months from start to primary completion across 34 trials still running at the 2026-10-09 snapshot; registered median of 26 months across 201 trials with a primary completion typed Actual. Source: ClinicalTrials.gov / AACT (CTTI), public domain.

What phase are Pleural Effusion trials in? (8)

Shown in this order: phase order.

Show the trials by phase as a table
Trials by phase
Phase Trials
Phase 1 34
Phase 1/2 8
Phase 2 46
Phase 2/3 4
Phase 3 12
Phase 4 19
Not applicable 125
Observational 118

How many Pleural Effusion trials are recruiting? (8)

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 22
Recruiting 36
Enrolling by invitation 3
Active, not recruiting 5
Completed 176

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

Which lead sponsors run the most Pleural Effusion trials? (1)

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 Cancer Institute (NCI) 8

Which drugs are being tested for Pleural Effusion? (2)

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
Talc 7
(nab)-paclitaxel 6

Interventions as named in the registry (13)

Shown in this order: most trials first.

Interventions as named in the registry
Drug Trials
or carboplatin 8
Cisplatin 1 8
Bevacizumab 1 7
Docetetaxel 5
Gemcitabine/Gemzar 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 Pleural Effusion 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
Anaemia 108 4
Pneumonia 95 8
Dyspnoea 71 3
Fatigue 48 7
Febrile neutropenia 48 6

Which publications cover Pleural Effusion? (345)

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