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ClinicalTrials.gov 109 recruiting now official registry

Major Depressive Disorder clinical trials

109 of 283 indexed Major Depressive Disorder trials are currently recruiting.

283 US clinical trials · 109 currently recruiting

Major Depressive Disorder is the subject of 283 registered US clinical trials on ClinicalTrials.gov, 109 of them currently open to new participants. 74 are in Phase 3-4 (later-stage) and 81 in Phase 1-2 (earlier-stage). The most active sponsor is Massachusetts General Hospital, running 19 of these trials.

The research picture

Major Depressive Disorder has 283 registered US clinical trials, 109 of them open to new participants right now, about 39% of the total.

109
recruiting participants now
39%
of trials open to enrollment
74
in Phase 3–4 (later-stage)
19
top sponsor: Massachusetts General Hospital
Phase 124Phase 257Phase 345Phase 429

Active & Recent Trials

283 total, page 2 of 6

RECRUITING NA 128 participants

Brain Changes During Social Reward Psychotherapy for Mid- and Late-Life Suicidality

Weill Medical College of Cornell University

NCT05925322

RECRUITING Phase 2 120 participants

Neuroactive Steroid to Treat Depressed Mood: A Trial for People With HIV

Massachusetts General Hospital

NCT05570812

RECRUITING Phase 2 120 participants

Imaging Depression in Parkinson's Disease

Yale University

NCT06402955

RECRUITING Phase 4 120 participants

Neural Circuit Effects of Ketamine in Depression

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

NCT06213324

RECRUITING NA 120 participants

Transcranial Near Infrared Radiation and Cerebral Blood Flow in Depression - R33

NYU Langone Health

NCT05573074

RECRUITING Phase 2 106 participants

5-HTP and Creatine for Depression R33 Phase

University of Utah

NCT05895747

RECRUITING Phase 2 100 participants

Psilocybin rTMS for Treatment Resistant Depression

University of Texas at Austin

NCT06132178

RECRUITING NA 100 participants

Exercise-priming of CBT for Depression: the CBT+ Trial

University of Wisconsin, Madison

NCT07221929

RECRUITING Phase 2 100 participants

JAK Signaling in Depression

Emory University

NCT07003997

RECRUITING Phase 4 100 participants

Long-Term Maintenance With Ketamine and Esketamine for Reduction of Suicide in High-Risk Patients With Depression

Massachusetts General Hospital

NCT05450432

RECRUITING NA 90 participants

Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) for Assessment of Depression

University of California, San Francisco

NCT04061148

RECRUITING NA 84 participants

Targeting Network Dysfunction in Apathy of Late-life Depression Using Digital Therapeutics

AdventHealth

NCT05877885

RECRUITING NA 80 participants

Neural Correlates of Stress and Perceived Control in Adolescent Depression

Mclean Hospital

NCT04788524

RECRUITING NA 80 participants

Mindful Self-compassion for Anxiety and Depression: Impact of Delivery Method

Georgetown University

NCT07028216

RECRUITING NA 80 participants

Targeting Specific Brain Networks to Treat Specific Symptoms in Depression

Massachusetts General Hospital

NCT05523817

RECRUITING NA 80 participants

Network Neurofeedback Using 7-Tesla MRI to Reduce Rumination Levels in Depression

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

NCT05933148

RECRUITING NA 80 participants

Sequential Bilateral Accelerated Theta Burst Stimulation in Adolescents With Suicidal Ideation

Mayo Clinic

NCT04502758

RECRUITING NA 75 participants

Maintenance rTMS for Depression (Maitr-De)

University of California, San Diego

NCT06938841

RECRUITING Phase 4 75 participants

Ovarian Hormone Withdrawal, Anhedonia, and Reward Sensitivity in Women With Premenstrual Exacerbations of Depression

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

NCT06610305

RECRUITING NA 72 participants

Causal Role of Delta-beta Coupling for Goal-directed Behavior in Anhedonic Depression

Florida State University

NCT06132581

RECRUITING NA 70 participants

Targeting Large-scale Networks in Depression With Real-time Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) Neurofeedback

University of Michigan

NCT06050070

RECRUITING Phase 1 70 participants

Mechanism of Action Underlying Ketamine's Antidepressant Effects: The AMPA Throughput Theory in Patients With Treatment-Resistant Major Depression

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

NCT03973268

RECRUITING Phase 2 70 participants

Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) Compared to Ketamine Alone for the Treatment of Depression

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

NCT06559826

RECRUITING Phase 2 70 participants

Mindfulness Engaged Neurostimulation for Depression

University of California, San Diego

NCT06399406

RECRUITING Phase 2 60 participants

Psilocybin With Pimavanserin Compared to Psilocybin Alone for the Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

NCT06592833

RECRUITING Phase 4 60 participants

Aβ Dynamics in LLMD

NYU Langone Health

NCT05004987

RECRUITING Phase 2 56 participants

Two Doses of Psilocybin for the Treatment of MDD in Adults With Cancer

Sunstone Medical

NCT05947383

RECRUITING NA 54 participants

Pain and Major Depressive Disorder

University of California, Los Angeles

NCT04556890

RECRUITING NA 54 participants

Closed-loop Optimized rTMS for Depression

Stanford University

NCT04142320

RECRUITING NA 52 participants

Getting Out of the House: Using Behavioral Activation to Increase Community Participation

Temple University

NCT06336616

RECRUITING Phase 4 50 participants

A Study to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Valbenazine in Adult Participants With Tardive Dyskinesia (TD) Who Remain Symptomatic While Receiving or After Stopping a Vesicular Monoamine Transporter 2 (VMAT2) Inhibitor

Neurocrine Biosciences

NCT07105111

RECRUITING Phase 4 50 participants

Establishing Multimodal Brain Biomarkers for Treatment Selection in Depression

University of Texas at Austin

NCT05892744

RECRUITING NA 50 participants

Accelerated TMS for MDD

Neuronetics

NCT07147218

RECRUITING NA 49 participants

Investigating the Neural Mechanisms of Repetitive Brain Stimulation With Invasive and Noninvasive Electrophysiology in Humans

Stanford University

NCT05996900

RECRUITING Early Phase 1 48 participants

Mood Effects of Serotonin Agonists: Depression

University of Chicago

NCT07017478

RECRUITING NA 45 participants

Using Electrophysiology to Index Non-invasive Brain Stimulation Effects on Reward System Functioning in Depression

San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center

NCT05194098

RECRUITING NA 40 participants

Accelerated Intermittent Theta Burst in Treatment-Naive Adolescents

University of Texas at Austin

NCT06523439

RECRUITING NA 40 participants

Using TMS to Understand Neural Processes of Social Motivation

Auburn University

NCT06274112

RECRUITING NA 40 participants

Feasibility of Home-Based Intermittent 60Hz Light Therapy for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

NYU Langone Health

NCT07111390

RECRUITING NA 40 participants

Mindful Self-Compassion for Anxiety Disorders and Depression

Georgetown University

NCT05671419

RECRUITING NA 40 participants

Decoding and Modulating Affective Brain States

University of Pennsylvania

NCT05437705

RECRUITING Phase 1 36 participants

A Study to Explore the Effect of SP-624 on Brain Network Analytics in Healthy Adults and Adults With Major Depression

Sirtsei Pharmaceuticals

NCT06570369

RECRUITING Phase 2 30 participants

The Impact of AMPA Receptor Blockade on Ketamine's Anti-Suicidal Effects

Yale University

NCT05786066

RECRUITING Phase 2 30 participants

Low Amplitude Pulse Seizure Therapy Versus Standard Ultra-Brief Right Unilateral Electroconvulsive Therapy

Michigan State University

NCT06529029

RECRUITING NA 30 participants

In-patient SCC TMS

University of California, Los Angeles

NCT05645575

RECRUITING NA 24 participants

Accelerated TMS for Perinatal Depression

Brigham and Women's Hospital

NCT06968390

RECRUITING Phase 1 24 participants

Antiviral Treatment OF Cytomegalovirus IN Depression

Laureate Institute for Brain Research

NCT04724447

RECRUITING Early Phase 1 20 participants

Xenon Inhalation Therapy for Major Depressive Disorder and Bipolar Disorder

Massachusetts General Hospital

NCT03748446

RECRUITING Phase 3 20 participants

The Effects of Psilocybin on Self-Focus and Self-Related Processing in Major Depressive Disorder

Sharmin Ghaznavi

NCT06247839

RECRUITING NA 18 participants

Linking Affective Dynamics in Response to Daily Stress to Peripheral Vascular Function in Working Age Adults

University of Delaware

NCT06860724

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Phase Distribution

PhaseTrial count
Phase 1 24
Phase 2 57
Phase 3 45
Phase 4 29

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov, National Library of Medicine. Data is informational only.

Reading the Major Depressive Disorder Trial Landscape

283 indexed Major Depressive Disorder studies · 109 recruiting (39%).

Phase mix: 74 late (III/IV) vs 81 early (I/II).

Top sponsor: Massachusetts General Hospital (19 trials), 9 others listed. 50 shown below, recruiting first.

How to read this condition's trial landscape

That ratio is a useful proxy for activity level: a high share of recruiting studies often signals that research interest is current and that new enrollment opportunities are appearing, while a low share typically means the field is dominated by completed or follow-up work where most participant spots have already been filled. These counts reflect the public registry only and include studies at every stage of design, so they should be read as an index of research attention rather than as a measure of treatment availability.

Phase 1 and Phase 2 studies focus on early safety signals, dosing, and preliminary effect, while Phase 3 studies are typically the larger efficacy and safety trials submitted toward regulatory review, and Phase 4 studies follow approved interventions in real-world use. A condition weighted toward later phases often reflects a mature research pipeline with several interventions already close to or past approval, whereas a heavier early-phase tilt suggests the field is still exploring new mechanisms and candidate approaches.

All figures are derived from the public ClinicalTrials.gov dataset maintained by the National Library of Medicine and are reproduced here for reference. Inclusion of a trial, sponsor, or intervention on this page is neither an endorsement nor a recommendation, eligibility, protocol changes, and site-level status can shift frequently, so always verify current details on ClinicalTrials.gov and consult a qualified healthcare provider before acting on anything you see here.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many clinical trials are there for Major Depressive Disorder?

PlainTrial tracks 283 US clinical trials for Major Depressive Disorder, of which 109 are currently recruiting participants. Data sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov.

How do I find a recruiting trial for Major Depressive Disorder?

Use the trial list above filtered by "Recruiting" status, or visit our trial finder at /recruiting to search by condition and state. Always discuss trial participation with your healthcare provider before enrolling.

Is this data current?

Data is sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov and reflects our most recent data pull. Trial status may have changed since then. Always verify current information at ClinicalTrials.gov before making decisions about participation.

Disclaimer: This information is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Data is sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov (National Library of Medicine). Consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov (NIH/NLM) ClinicalTrials.gov AACT registry · 2026 Trial counts and statuses sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. Sponsor counts include both industry and federal/academic sponsors.

Verify with NIH →

Every figure on PlainTrial is rendered directly from the ClinicalTrials.gov registry, no number is typed in by an editor. This page aggregates every registered trial for this condition, live from the dataset. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.