Terminated Clinical Trials from ClinicalTrials.gov Results Database

A cross-sectional study of 905 terminated clinical trials from the ClinicalTrials.gov results database as of February 2013. It characterizes the availability of primary outcome data and identifies reasons for trial termination, with 68% terminated for reasons other than accumulated trial data.

Use Cases

• Analyze the distribution of termination reasons, such as insufficient accrual rate, to identify common failure points in trial management.
• Compare the availability of primary outcome data on ClinicalTrials.gov versus in published literature across different termination categories.
• Investigate the correlation between termination based on trial data (efficacy or toxicity findings) and the likelihood of primary outcome data being reported.

Strengths

• Focuses on a specific and understudied subset of 905 terminated trials from a major registry.
• Provides detailed breakdowns of termination reasons, including 68% for non-data reasons and 57% of those due to insufficient accrual.
• Quantifies data availability, reporting primary outcome data for 72% of trials on ClinicalTrials.gov and 22% in literature.

Limitations

• Data is from a single snapshot in February 2013 and may not reflect current practices or more recent terminated trials.
• The study sample of 905 trials is a subset of 7,646 trials with results posted, which itself is a subset of all trials.
• No column-level metadata or sample data is provided, limiting direct analysis of the underlying dataset structure.

Provenance

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov results database.

Collection Method

Cross-sectional, descriptive study of terminated trials posted on the database.

Time Range

Data extracted as of February 2013.

Freshness

Last updated 2020-06-24, but the underlying study data is from February 2013.