1 700 clinical studies approved in 2024

Most clinical studies that submit for ethical review receive approval to start. In 2024, approximately 1,700 studies were approved by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (Etikprövningsmyndigheten). This is shown in our new statistical summary of clinical studies in Sweden.

Academic clinical intervention studies aim to recruit more patients than industry-funded studies. The statistics also show that patients’ opportunities to take part in intervention studies differ significantly across diagnostic areas. Around 85,000 patients with cancer, 43,000 with mental illness, and 15,000 with cardiovascular disease are planned to participate in clinical studies. In the smaller field of blood diseases, one in five patients is expected to participate, while the opportunity to join clinical studies in eye, skin, and ear diseases is considerably lower.

“The statistics clearly show which disease areas offer many patients the chance to participate in clinical studies. Having a clearer picture of the situation helps us identify areas where further efforts are needed to ensure clinical research benefits more patient groups,” says Jonas Oldgren, Secretary General for Clinical Research at the Swedish Research Council.

The summary also describes how data from various health data registries and healthcare information systems are used in clinical studies, where it is common to combine registry data from multiple sources, such as the National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) or Statistics Sweden (Statistikmyndigheten SCB).

“Sweden has unique conditions for clinical research thanks to high-quality registry data. These allow researchers to follow large patient groups over time and complement the information collected directly from patients. It is very encouraging that many researchers use registry data and combine different data sources in clinical studies,” says Jonas Oldgren.

Data from the Swedish Ethical Review Authority’s Statistics Portal

The summary is based on data from the Swedish Ethical Review Authority’s statistics portal, which since 2024 has collected information on all clinical studies that received ethical approval. The portal enables more detailed tracking of developments, such as which diagnostic areas the studies cover, how many research subjects are planned to participate, estimated project durations, and the type of principal investigator responsible for the study.

Read more on our pages with statistics and information about clinical studies.