Privacy Policy

Who operates this site and controller role

Clinical Trial Failures is operated as a research-support website at clinicaltrialfailures.com. For privacy questions, corrections, or website feedback, use the Contact page or email contact@clinicaltrialfailures.com.

If you are located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, the website operator is the controller for personal data processed through this website, unless a third-party service states that it acts as an independent controller for its own processing.

What we collect from visitors

You do not need an account to use the site. We do not ask for your name, address, medical history, or other direct personal details to browse the database.

Like most websites, the hosting provider may process limited technical data needed to serve the site, such as IP address, browser type, device information, requested page path, referring page, and timestamps.

Analytics and performance measurement

The site may use Vercel Web Analytics and Vercel Speed Insights to understand page views, performance, and basic usage patterns. These tools help us see which pages are useful, whether pages load quickly, and where technical problems occur.

Analytics data is used in aggregate to improve the website. It is not used to provide medical advice, make clinical decisions, identify individual visitors, or sell visitor data.

Legal bases under the GDPR

Where the GDPR applies, technical processing that is strictly necessary to serve the website may be based on legitimate interests in operating a secure and functional informational website. Optional analytics, advertising cookies, personalized advertising, newsletter subscriptions, or similar non-essential processing should be based on consent where required by EU or German law.

You can withdraw consent through the relevant consent controls when those features are available, or by changing your browser settings. Withdrawal does not affect processing that happened before consent was withdrawn.

Cookies and local storage

The site may use essential cookies or browser storage for basic functionality, such as remembering cookie-consent choices. If analytics are enabled, analytics providers may use privacy-preserving mechanisms to measure visits and performance.

If advertising, affiliate tracking, embedded media, or newsletter forms are added, additional cookies or similar technologies may be used only where legally allowed and, where required, after consent.

Advertising, Google AdSense, and consent in Europe

The site may in the future display advertising, including Google AdSense. Personalized advertising for users in the EEA, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland should not be enabled unless the site uses a Google-certified Consent Management Platform integrated with the applicable IAB Transparency and Consent Framework, or another Google-supported consent setup that satisfies Google's publisher requirements.

Google may process data such as cookie identifiers, device information, IP address, page URL, approximate location, ad interactions, and consent signals to deliver, measure, and protect ads. If advertising is enabled, users should be shown a consent choice before non-essential advertising cookies or personalized ad processing are used where consent is required.

Until a compliant consent setup is in place, the conservative approach for a Germany-based operator is to avoid personalized advertising for EEA, UK, and Swiss visitors and to avoid loading non-essential ad tracking before consent.

Affiliate links

The site may in the future include affiliate links or referral links. If you click an affiliate link, the destination website or affiliate network may process information such as the referring page, click time, device information, and purchase or sign-up activity to attribute a referral. Affiliate links do not change the price for the visitor unless stated otherwise.

If affiliate links are added, they should be clearly disclosed near the relevant content.

Public clinical trial data

The database is derived from public ClinicalTrials.gov registry records and related public fields such as trial status, sponsor, phase, disease area, condition, intervention, and sponsor-provided stop-reason language.

The site does not collect patient-level medical records from visitors. Trial records should be treated as public registry information and verified against the original ClinicalTrials.gov source page before important use.

Contact messages

If you contact us by email or through a feedback link, we may receive your email address, message content, and any information you choose to include, such as an NCT ID, page URL, correction request, browser, or device details.

We use contact messages only to respond, review corrections, improve the site, and maintain a reasonable record of the request.

What we do not sell

We do not sell visitor personal information. We do not use visitor information for medical profiling, clinical recommendations, or targeted medical advertising.

Data retention

Technical logs and analytics data may be retained by infrastructure and analytics providers according to their normal service settings. Contact messages may be retained as long as reasonably needed to handle the request, maintain records, or improve the service.

Your choices and rights

You can browse the site without contacting us. You can also use browser controls to block cookies, clear local storage, or limit tracking. Depending on where you live, you may have rights to request access, correction, deletion, or restriction of personal information you have provided to us.

If the GDPR applies, you may also have the right to data portability, the right to object to processing based on legitimate interests, the right to withdraw consent, and the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. In Germany, this is usually the data protection authority for the federal state connected to the operator or your place of residence.

International transfers and third-party providers

Hosting, analytics, email, newsletter, advertising, and infrastructure providers may process data in countries outside the EEA. Where required, transfers should rely on appropriate safeguards such as adequacy decisions, standard contractual clauses, or provider-specific transfer mechanisms.

Security

We use normal website infrastructure and security practices for a public informational site. No website can guarantee perfect security, so do not send sensitive personal medical information through feedback links.

Children

This site is intended for professional and research use. It is not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Legal note

This policy is intended to clearly explain the site's privacy practices, but it is not legal advice. Because the operator is based in Europe and because AdSense, affiliate tracking, and newsletter tools can trigger GDPR and German TTDSG consent duties, the policy and consent setup should be reviewed by a qualified privacy professional before monetization or personalized advertising is enabled.

Updates

This policy may be updated as the site changes. Continued use of the site means you accept the current version published here.