> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.fdaweb.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# FDA Still Not Releasing Drug NCT Numbers
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/fda-still-not-releasing-drug-nct-numbers/
- Published: 2022-03-01T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T17:34:39.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, Devices, #legacy-id-D5151262

Attorney and data scientist **Bradley Thompson** (Epstein Becker Green) says that although four years ago then-FDA commissioner **Scott Gottlieb** promised that the agency would release the identifier number (known as the NCT number) assigned by the National Institutes of Health to clinical trials listed online at clinicaltrials.gov, it still hasn’t followed through. In an online [post](https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/unpacking-averages-connecting-published-3708260/?ref=fdaweb.com), Thompson says FDA deletes the NCT number when it shares its database of approved drugs. “Without knowing the specific NCT number of the studies that were used as a basis for approving a particular drug for a particular indication on a particular date,” Thompson writes, “I can’t connect the dots back to the clinical trial information posted on clinicaltrials.gov.”

He says that if the agency were to provide the number as Gottlieb promised, he and other data scientists would know exactly which trials were used to support which approvals, and through joining the clinicaltrials.gov and drugs@FDA databases could glean insights about what kind of evidence FDA requires to obtain a specific kind of drug approval.

“The agency recognizes that releasing the information is a key component of being transparent, of letting the public understand the basis for drug approvals,” he says. …For weeks I have been reaching out to dozens of people at FDA all the way up to the chief information officer asking them what their plans are to follow through with Gottlieb’s 2018 announcement, and have gotten no response.”

He notes that CDRH already provides the NCT numbers for cleared 510(ks) in the 510(k) database and it is only CDER that appears to be lagging.