Abstract

Modern precision radiotherapy is an innovative and effective treatment of cancer, yet it is unclear how radiotherapy trials are affected by expanding targeted and immune therapies and declining National Institutes of Health funding.To analyze and compare the characteristics of radiotherapy trials with other oncological trials registered on ClinicalTrials.gov.This is a cross-sectional analysis of trials registered on ClinicalTrials.gov between June 1, 2007, and May 8, 2017. Records of all 243?758 clinical studies registered by May 8, 2017, were downloaded, but only 25 907 interventional oncological trials registered between June 1, 2007, and May 8, 2017, and whose primary purpose was "treatment" were included in the final analysis. Trials were categorized according to cancer type and other registration information.Characteristics of radiotherapy trials were compared with characteristics of other oncological trials. Chronological shifts in radiotherapy trials were also analyzed.Of the 25?907 trials selected, 1378 (5.3%) were radiotherapy trials and 24 529 (94.7%) were other oncological studies. The number of radiotherapy trials increased gradually from 94 (June 1, 2007, through May 31, 2008) to 192 (June 1, 2015, through May 31, 2016). Radiotherapy trials were less likely than other oncological studies to be registered before participant enrollment (763 of 1370 [55.7%] vs 16 105 of 24 434 [65.9%]; P?

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