2017 In Review: Top 5 Conditions You Wanted a Clinical Trial For (OA & Infertility Among Them)

One year’s gone, another one is upon us and just like with birthdays, the more new years you celebrate, the better. 2017 was a very busy year for FindMeCure in our quest to help people get innovative treatments. And so, we decided to let you in on what the most searched for conditions are and how many and what sort of clinical trials there are for them.

1.Infertility

Since it’s not a jolly countdown of the top musical hits of the year, we can start with the most searched condition right away, and it’s infertility with 4188 unique pageviews – more than all types of cancer combined (4136 pageviews). There are 391 clinical trials for infertility worldwide if you do not specify gender. However, there are 358 trials for women and only 81 for men. We can speculate about the reason until the cows come home, but instead let’s look at the different options men and women have.

For men there are 4 clinical trials phase III.  Two of them are studying the effects of certain drugs (see them here and here), one of them testing a fertility device, which isolates healthy sperm, for its use in in vitro fertilization and another one – studying the effects of walnuts on sperm parameters.

While women have more options (42 clinical trials phase III), the largest number of them are drug or device-related. One of those trials is studying tubal flushing for unexplained infertility but for now, the trial is only available in Cairo, Egypt.

Cairo University also has an ongoing study for women with Endometriosis.  So clearly, the fight for reproductive health is going strong.

2.Diabetes

Now, the second most searched for condition is diabetes (with 1673 pageviews) for which there are as many as 1859 clinical trials worldwide and those in phase III are 154 – 67 of them in the United States. Some of these trials study the difference made by lifestyle adjustments (like this one aimed at older patients), others test drugs (like this one, which aims to lower hemoglobin A1c in pediatric patients) and others are biological. Wait, what does biological even mean? Well, as they say on TV, stay tuned to find out, because this too deserves its own blog post.

3.Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

Another of the most searched for conditions, on the third place in our list, is also connected to reproductive issues, concerning women in particular – polycystic ovary syndrome, with 1464 pageviews. PCOS is due to high levels of androgens, which are male hormones, and is associated with a number of symptoms ranging from unpleasant to potentially heartbreaking like difficulty getting pregnant or just plain infertility.

Our database comes up with 134 clinical trials for PCOS when no additional filters are selected. In phase III, however, there are 15 clinical trials, some of them studying drugs or devices and others looking into the implications of acupuncture as a kind of supplementary treatment. Clinical trials and available treatments for fertility issues, however, deserves a separate blog post and we’ll keep you updated on what’s going on.

4.Depression 

The fourth position on our list is occupied by depression with 1214 pageviews. We have a lot written about depression on the FindMeCure blog and we have suggested taking clinical trials into consideration as a viable treatment option but let’s take a look now at some of these trials more precisely.

There are more than 1100 studies worldwide, 75 of which are in phase III – some of them quite interesting. There are these testing drugs, as always, like this one studying the effect of  ketamine on people with late-in-life depression resistant to treatment… or this one for people over 60 years of age.

But there are also trials looking into the way lifestyle changes affect depression, like this one which focuses on exercise. And if you for some reason do not believe in treating depression with drugs and want to try a different route instead, there are other options as well (but consult your doctor first). This trial which starts in May 2018, for example, studies the potential of deep brain stimulation to relieve depression – sadly, it’s only for people over 60. There is a similar trial for people between 22 and 68 but it’s for bipolar depression.

Nonetheless, research is going on and it gives us hope for the future.

5.Osteoarthritis

And lastly, osteoarthritis is the fifth most-researched condition on the list with 845 unique pageviews and there are a few blog posts about it here, on the FindMeCure blog, one of them discussing the new treatments on the way as well as currently available options over-the-counter. Although there are yet no DMOADs (drugs which stop the damage done by OA or even drastically improve symptoms) on the market, research is being done and we’ll keep you updated on the progress in medicine whenever something new pops up.

So there we go, the 5 most researched conditions on FindMeCure and some of the prospective treatments for them. With all that summarized we finally bid 2017 adieu and welcome 2018 and the promising research it brings.