How it works

Each page tracks one reported breakthrough and shows the records found since it was reported. This page explains how the status on a claim page is set and what it does not tell you.

How a status is set

A status is derived by fixed rules from the approved evidence events listed on the claim page. Where no trial is found, the rules also use the kind of study the first reports described. No model and no editor decides a status. Every status lists the events that produced it.

The rules are applied in this order, and the first one that fits sets the status.

  1. If the paper the first news reports were about has a retraction notice, the status is “Origin paper retracted”.
  2. If a regulator has recorded an approval, the status is “Approved”.
  3. Otherwise, trials that have not been terminated, withdrawn or marked as missing their primary endpoint are the ones that count. If any remain, the status follows the furthest one that has started: “Phase 3 trial”, “Phase 2 trial” or “Phase 1 trial”. If none has started, or none has a phase, the status is “Trial registered”.
  4. If no trial remains and a person has marked a trial as missing its primary endpoint, with a source link, the status is “Trial missed its primary endpoint”.
  5. If no trial remains and every registered trial was terminated or withdrawn, the status is “Trials ended early”.
  6. With no trial found at all, the status depends on what the first reports described. If it was a study in people, the status is “No trial record found”. If it was laboratory or animal work, the status is “Preclinical only”.

A claim that is still at a stage open to further evidence (“Preclinical only” through “Phase 3 trial”, and “No trial record found”) can also carry the no-signal note, described below.

What each status means

Preclinical only
No clinical trial was found in the registries checked. The first reports are not recorded as describing a study in people.
No trial record found
The first reports described a study in people. No clinical trial was found in the registries checked.
Trial registered
A clinical trial is registered. No trial with a phase has started.
Phase 1 trial
The furthest trial that has started is a Phase 1 trial.
Phase 2 trial
The furthest trial that has started is a Phase 2 trial.
Phase 3 trial
The furthest trial that has started is a Phase 3 trial.
Approved
A regulator has recorded an approval.
Trial missed its primary endpoint
A trial result was reported in which the primary endpoint was not met, and no other trial stands.
Trials ended early
Every registered trial was terminated or withdrawn.
Origin paper retracted
The paper the first news reports were about has been retracted.

No signal

A claim that has stayed at an open stage for several years, with no new approved record, shows a note such as “No signal for 5 years”. The note means that the most recent record is that old. The count starts from the date of that record, or from the date the claim was first reported when no record has been found.

It says nothing about work that has not been published or registered, and it is not a status. A new record removes it.

What this site never says

This site gives no verdict on a claim, a researcher, a company or a news outlet. It gives no medical advice and recommends no treatment. A registered clinical trial is not a treatment option.

Where the data comes from

Every record on a claim page links to the source that holds it. Records are shown as the registries and databases gave them. The summaries and the wording of statuses are the site’s. News articles are linked and summarised; their text is not copied.

An optional search of a new report

When you ask for a registry search, OpenAI reads the report's text to identify its treatment and condition. We search ClinicalTrials.gov and linked research through Europe PMC, then use OpenAI to compare the trial records. This is a live search of those research sources, not a general search of the web. Its answer is marked as automatic and unreviewed; it cannot create a claim page or change a status. The service keeps neither the report nor the answer. Read what is sent and how the providers handle it before searching.

What is counted

Cloudflare, which hosts this site, counts requests and errors to operate the service. We do not add analytics, set tracking cookies, or keep reader profiles. Request logging for our Worker is disabled.

Report an error

Each claim page says how to report an error in it.