Paper
The metabolic record is not only large. It is persistently quiet across both sponsor classes and phases.
How much older metabolic trial evidence on ClinicalTrials.gov remains quiet once obesity, diabetes, and related studies are read as one family? We analysed 17,294 eligible older metabolic studies from the March 29, 2026 full-registry snapshot, covering diabetes, obesity, lipid, and endocrine-related portfolios. The project compares two-year no-results rates, ghost-protocol rates, sponsor-class contrasts, phase structure, and leading sponsors by unresolved stock. Across older metabolic studies, 76.2 percent lacked posted results and 41.9 percent showed neither results nor a linked publication. EARLY_PHASE1 remained the dominant phase bucket, while Novo Nordisk A/S carried the largest named sponsor stock at 391 older missing-results studies in the metabolic family. Metabolic hiddenness is therefore not confined to one sponsor sector and remains visible across large clinical-development and registry-sparsity channels. That is especially important because diabetes and obesity evidence directly shapes large prescribing, prevention, and public-health decisions. These metrics capture registry-visible omission rather than adjudicated legal breach within this metabolic family frame today.