Top 10 Clinical Trial Indications in the Bay Area

In the birthplace of biotech, California’s Bay Area, there are thousands of ongoing clinical trials ranging across a myriad of different disease indications and other medical conditions. After perusing through 115 pages of clinicaltrials.gov that list the different types of studies conducted in the Bay Area over the past several years, BioSpace has put together a list of the top 10 indications that have been or are the subject of being researched across the region by pharma companies, academic institutions and other organizations. The trials range from Phase I to Phase III.

1. Neoplasm – An abnormal growth of cells that can be cancerous, neoplasms have been the subject of thousands of trials in the Bay Area. In the area of neoplasms by histologic type, there have been 2,148 trials. And, as with other diseases, the number grows exponentially when broken down to different types. For example, there have been 1,011 trials for glandular and epithelial neoplasms and 560 studies of nerve tissue neoplasms.
2. Immune and Autoimmune diseases – There are countless immune and autoimmune diseases, so it’s no wonder that there are thousands of trials that have been conducted in the Bay Area in recent years. For the broad subject of immune diseases, clinicaltrials.gov notes there have been 2,194 trials associated with diseases of the immune system. According to the list, there have been 511 trials under the autoimmune disease umbrella. But, that is only the tip of the iceberg when you look with more specificity. For example, there have been 121 trials associated with autoimmune diseases of the nervous system.
3. Carcinoma – Under the umbrella of carcinoma, there have been nearly, 1,100 carcinoma trials. That number begins to climb exponentially when different kinds of carcinoma trials are added to the equation. For example, there have been 217 bronchogenic carcinoma trials, 33 basal cell carcinoma trials, 89 heptocellular carcinoma trials, 302 non-small cell carcinoma trials, 161 ovarian epithelial carcinoma trials and 117 renal cell carcinoma trials.
4. HIV and AIDS – Over the years, there has been a significant amount of HIV and AIDS-related research conducted in the Bay Area. With the different issues associated with the disease, as could be expected, there are multiple indications being studied. In AIDS, for example, there have been 123 trials in AIDS-related Complex and 77 in AIDS-related opportunistic infections. For HIV infections, there have been more than 1,000 different trials. That number grows when adding related issues, such as HIV Wasting syndrome, HIV seropositivity and HIV-associated lipodystrophy syndrome.
5. Communicable diseases – There have been 1,755 clinical trials related to communicable diseases, including surgical site infections, STEM cell transplant infections and other types of infections related to transplants.
6. Respiratory tract diseases – While there are many different kinds of diseases of the lung, there have been 1,130 trials associated with respiratory tract diseases. There have also been 351 trials associated with respiratory tract neoplasms and 197 trials associated with infections of the respiratory tract.
7. Vascular diseases – In the area of vascular diseases, there have been 927 trials over the year.
8. Brain disease – While this can include types of dementia, there have been 797 different trials involving diseases of the brain.
9. Diabetes – As one of the most common diseases in the United States, it’s no wonder that it would be the subject of a number of clinical trials. In the Bay Area, hundreds upon hundreds of clinical trials have been devoted to the disease in its various forms. Studies have focused on types 1 and 2 of the disease, as well as diabetes-related complications, gestational diabetes, diabetic foot issues, diabetic angiopathies, insipidus diabetes, diabetes mellitus and more.
10. Leukemia – There are hundreds of leukemia trials taking place across the region. Researchers are examining different types of the blood cancer. For example, there are 182 trials in acute lymphoblastic leukemia, 188 different trials in acute myeloid leukemia and 188 trials in acute non-lymphoblastic leukemia. There have also been dozens of other trials in different types of leukemia, such as acute promylocytic leukemia and acute myelomonocytic leukemia.