Search tips and guidance

This website allows you to search clinical trials initiated in the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA). You can use the search function to find information on individual clinical trials as soon as this information becomes available. The search function pulls information from the Clinical Trials Information System, the system underpinning this website.

Search tips

You can search by keyword by using the basic search. The search boxes on the main search interface work by searching clinical trials that contain one or more of the words you type in.

You can search in three different ways. Select:

  • ‘Contain all of these terms’, for finding clinical trials containing all of the words in your search;
  • ‘Contain any of these terms’, for finding clinical trials containing any of the words in your search. This will broaden your set of results. Use for example for similar concepts (e.g. synonyms);
  • ‘Does not contain any of these terms’, for finding clinical trials that do not contain a specific word. This allows you, for example, to exclude clinical trials conducted in a certain country or in a specific therapeutic area

Select the ‘search’ button when you’re ready to search.

Using the search filters of the advanced search functionality is a good way to make your search more precise. With the advanced feature you can combine the keywords you have put in the basic search, with the filters in the advanced search.

You can use:

  • keyword search that only looks for the word you typed in in a specific part of the content.
  • lookup lists, which provide you pre-defined options to select from. If you select one of the suggestions, the results will be limited to clinical trials where the search word matches the word or term you selected. If you select more than one of the options, your search result will contain at least one of your selected options;
  • checkbox filters, allowing you to narrow down your results, e.g. to trials for which the results or a clinical study report is available, or trials that focus on a specific vulnerable population.  

Once you have entered all of your search criteria, click on the ‘search’ button.

The results you get will include all of your keywords (using AND logic), and at least one of each of the options you selected using each lookup list (using OR logic).

If you did not get the result you want, you can change one or more search parameters, by clicking on the ‘modify my search’ button.

If you want to clear all your parameters and start over instead, click on the ‘reset’ button.

You can customise the display of your search results in different ways.

You can choose what information you see in the results table for each clinical trial using the ‘display options’ functionality. For example, if you select ‘recruitment status’, ‘trial phase’ and ‘total number enrolled’, you will see these data fields listed for each clinical trial.

You can also choose how to sort your search results using the ‘sort’ field on the top right of your search results. You can sort your results by title of the clinical trial, trial number, overall trial status, overall end of the trial.

Once you have selected the parameter to sort your results by, you can choose whether you want to see the first or the last value on top based on your sorting criteria. Select ‘ASC’ for ascending (first value on top) or ‘DESC’ for descending (last value on top) in the field to the right of the ‘Sort by’ field.

Select the ‘Sort’ button to update your results.

You can download your search results in .csv format using the ‘Download’ button, which is located above your results.

You can subscribe to receive updates that match your search parameters via RSS feed, using the ‘subscribe’ button located above your results.

Useful contacts

If you would like more information, your doctor or specialist may be able to help you find more information or advise you if you would be a suitable candidate for a clinical trial.

You can also contact the clinical trial sponsor directly. Make sure you select the options ‘Sponsor/co-sponsor’, Sponsor type and ‘Trial phase’ in the advanced search.

To view the contact details: select the individual trial you are interested in from the results table, select the tab ‘Full trial information’, then select the section marked ‘Sponsors’ and select the radio button left of the name in the column ‘Name’.

You can also contact the sponsor company or organisation directly through the contact information on their corporate website.

Would you like to know more about this website or the system underpinning this website, the Clinical Trial Information System? Have a look at our About page.

If you have questions on how to search for clinical trials, you can contact the CTIS User Support Service.

If you have questions not addressed on this page, or if you have questions about the website performance or want to provide feedback, you can send us an email.

Users of the workspaces in the Clinical Trials Information System (CTIS), such as clinical trial sponsors and regulators, can find useful information on our Support page.

To find the regulatory authority for medicines for human use (also known as national competent authority, or NCA) of a European Union Member State or a European Economic Area, we refer you to the overview on the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) website:

Find national competent authorities

If you want to find patient and consumer organisations in your country who may be able to provide information on clinical trials within specific disease areas, you can consult this list.

These organisations regularly interact with the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

Read more about this interaction on EMA’s website

Available information to search

Currently, the website contains limited information on individual clinical trials since its launch on 31 January 2022. It will gradually contain more information as clinical trial sponsors and EU/EEA regulators use it to initiate and oversee clinical trials in the European Union and European Economic Area.

Clinical trials with a decision issued after mid-August 2022 that have deferrals of any type in the application form are currently not published on CTIS. This is a temporary measure until the functionalities of the public portal are fully restored.