CT.gov Probable ACT/FDAAA Debt
2026-03-29 | full-registry ct.gov audit | plots, figures, and e156 bundle
Series
Probable ACT Dashboard

Conservative ACT-style proxy layers shrink the CT.gov backlog, but they still leave a large and old regulated-looking debt core

Broad U.S.-nexus portfolios are much quieter than the full registry but still incomplete, the stricter core still holds 18,475 missing-results studies, OTHER and INDUSTRY dominate stock inside that core, and Pre-FDAAA strict-proxy cohorts remain overwhelmingly unresolved.

Proxy filters
Strict stock
Era debt
Sponsor mix

Dashboard

The strict proxy is smaller and quieter than the full eligible universe, yet it still contains 18,475 missing-results studies and a very old unresolved tail.

How to read the dashboard
Broad nexus
46.5%
No-results rate
Strict core
31.5%
No-results rate
Strict stock
18,475
Missing-results studies
Pre-FDAAA strict
87.0%
Oldest cohort
No-results rate by proxy layer
PROXY LAYERS2-year no-results rate across ACT-style proxy layersBroad US nexus46.5%Drug/Bio non-phase130.4%Strict US D/B/D31.5%
Tighter filters lower the rate, but they do not remove the reporting debt problem.
The strict layer still leaves a backlog large enough to support a standalone audit.
Strict-proxy sponsor-class stock
STRICT-PROXY STOCKMissing-results counts by sponsor class inside the strict U.S.-nexus proxyOTHER8,824INDUSTRY7,983NIH817NETWORK429FED313INDIV92
OTHER and INDUSTRY dominate the strict-layer stock, but NIH, NETWORK, and FED still contribute meaningful regulated-looking debt.
The likely regulated backlog is institutionally distributed rather than concentrated in one single class.
Strict-proxy completion-era rate
STRICT-PROXY ERAS2-year no-results rate by completion era inside the strict proxy layerPre-FDAAA 801 (2000-2007)87.0%FDAAA 801 Era (2008-2016)23.4%Final Rule Era (2017-2020)22.2%Recent Eligible Era (2021-2024)30.1%
Pre-FDAAA strict-proxy debt remains extreme, while later eras look cleaner but not clean.
That pattern shows why the regulated-looking backlog must be read as both an old-stock and a continuing-flow problem.
Read Across Projects

Across The Series

Each project isolates a different dimension of registry opacity, but the point is the contrast between them, not a single leaderboard.

Industry
CT.gov Industry Disclosure Gap

Industry-focused missing-results stock, sponsor backlogs, and structural sparsity inside CT.gov.

Sponsor Classes
CT.gov Sponsor-Class Hiddenness

Sponsor-class comparisons on rate, stock, and structural hiddenness rather than one flattened ranking.

Phases
CT.gov Phase Reporting Gap

Phase-by-phase disclosure gaps showing how silence changes along the development pathway.

Structural
CT.gov Structural Missingness

Field-level missingness across publication links, IPD statements, descriptions, and locations.

Visibility
CT.gov Evidence Visibility Gap

Results-plus-publication visibility states showing how many older trials are fully visible, partly visible, or ghosted.

Cohorts
CT.gov Completion Cohort Debt

Completion-era reporting debt showing how older eligible cohorts drift on no-results and ghost-protocol rates.

Conditions
CT.gov Condition Hiddenness Map

Keyword-classified therapeutic-area hiddenness mapping across common condition families.

Concentration
CT.gov Sponsor Backlog Concentration

Concentration and inequality analysis showing how much unresolved stock sits inside a thin sponsor slice.

Rule Eras
CT.gov Rule-Era Reporting Gap

Policy-era comparisons across pre-FDAAA, FDAAA, and later CT.gov completion cohorts.

PubMed Audit
CT.gov Publication Undercount Audit

Sample-based external PubMed NCT audit testing how often CT.gov no-link records hide an external paper trail.

Oncology
CT.gov Oncology Hiddenness

Oncology-specific CT.gov hiddenness showing where cancer-trial stock, phases, and sponsors still go quiet.

Cardiovascular
CT.gov Cardiovascular Hiddenness

Cardiovascular CT.gov hiddenness showing how heart and vascular studies remain quiet across major phases and sponsors.

Metabolic
CT.gov Metabolic Hiddenness

Metabolic CT.gov hiddenness across obesity, diabetes, and related trial portfolios with large late-phase and NA stock.

Size
CT.gov Enrollment-Size Gap

Enrollment-size gradients showing how older small trials remain much quieter than larger registered studies.

Geography
CT.gov Geography-Scale Visibility

Site and country footprint analysis showing how larger trial geographies map onto much better public visibility.

Purpose
CT.gov Design-Purpose Hiddenness

Primary-purpose and allocation analysis showing which trial intents remain most obscured on CT.gov.

Delay
CT.gov Completion-Delay Debt

Registration-to-completion delay analysis showing short-cycle studies carry the heaviest reporting debt.

Architecture
CT.gov Trial-Architecture Gap

Arm-count and intervention-count analysis showing simpler trial architectures are often the quietest.

Interventions
CT.gov Intervention-Type Gap

Intervention-family analysis showing which declared treatment modalities remain quietest on older CT.gov records.

Countries
CT.gov Country Reporting Map

Named-country visibility analysis showing large geographic divides in older CT.gov reporting debt.

Stopped
CT.gov Stopped-Trial Disclosure Gap

Final-status analysis showing how withdrawn, suspended, and terminated studies remain structurally quieter than completed trials.

Outcomes
CT.gov Outcome-Density Gap

Outcome-count and outcome-description analysis showing sparse protocols are often the quietest CT.gov segment.

Actual Fields
CT.gov Actual-Field Discipline

Closed-study actual-field analysis showing missing actual dates and counts are a strong warning sign for opacity.

US vs Global
CT.gov U.S. Versus Global Gap

Geography-bucket analysis showing how U.S.-only, mixed, and non-U.S. portfolios diverge sharply on visibility.

Modality Sponsors
CT.gov Modality Sponsor Repeaters

Intervention-family sponsor audit showing that repeat offenders change sharply once modality is held fixed.

Country x Condition
CT.gov Country-Condition Hiddenness

Country-by-condition splits showing how disease-specific visibility changes once specific national footprints are named.

Disease Geography
CT.gov Disease Geography Gap

Disease-family geography buckets showing how oncology, cardiovascular, and metabolic studies diverge by U.S. participation.

Condition Sponsors
CT.gov Condition Sponsor Repeaters

Condition-family sponsor audit showing who carries the biggest hiddenness stock within oncology, cardiovascular, and metabolic studies.

Country Sponsors
CT.gov Country Sponsor Repeaters

Country-linked sponsor audit showing how leading repeaters differ across U.S., China, Egypt, Poland, Australia, and Japan study footprints.

US vs Ex-US
CT.gov U.S. Versus Ex-U.S. Sponsor Classes

U.S.-presence sponsor-class analysis showing how any-U.S. and no-U.S. portfolios diverge sharply on hiddenness.

Industry Families
CT.gov Industry Family Repeaters

Industry-by-intervention audit showing that repeat-offender sponsors change sharply once modality and geography are held fixed.

Adjusted
CT.gov Risk-Adjusted Hiddenness

Study-mix-adjusted hiddenness showing which sponsor classes, geographies, and sponsors remain worse than expected.

Clock
CT.gov Overdue Results Clock

Time-since-due analysis showing how unresolved CT.gov results debt ages across cohorts, phases, and sponsor classes.

Index Gap
CT.gov Publication Index Gap

Sample-based exact-ID audit showing how much no-link CT.gov silence is an indexing and linkage gap rather than a PubMed-only miss.