Paper
A conservative U.S.-nexus proxy lowers the overall rate, but it still leaves thousands of deep-silence studies behind. The strict-core black-box problem does not disappear.
Where does the black-box problem remain inside the strict U.S.-nexus CT.gov core rather than the broader older-study universe? We analysed the 58,598-study strict U.S.-nexus drug-biological-device proxy extracted from the March 29, 2026 full-registry snapshot. Using the wave-nine strict-core watchlist, we ranked named sponsors and sponsor classes by black-box stock and rate inside that regulated-looking subset. Industry held the largest strict-core black-box stock at 3,001 studies, while Bayer led the named strict-core black-box table at 122 studies. Novartis Pharmaceuticals and Bristol-Myers Squibb followed on named stock, while NETWORK remained sharper than OTHER on no-results rate even with low black-box stock. The strict-core black-box problem therefore remains industry-heavy on deep-silence stock even inside a subset that already lowers the overall missing-results rate and still leaves a clearly concentrated industrial deep-silence stock behind for scrutiny. These strict-core black-box tables sit inside a conservative proxy subset and are not formal ACT or FDAAA legal determinations for specific sponsors or studies.