Who sponsors clinical trials?

Clinical studies can be sponsored, or funded, by pharmaceutical companies, academic medical centers, voluntary groups, and other organizations, in addition to federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Doctors, other healthcare providers, and other individuals can also sponsor clinical research.

Reproduced with permission from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of NIH. NIH does not endorse or recommend any products, services, or information described or offered here by Healthline. Page last reviewed March 2019.