What is BMU CTR and who uses it?
BMU CTR (the BMU Clinical Trial Registry) is a website and online database of clinical research studies and information about their results. It is operated by the Registry Office at Bangladesh Medical University. The purpose of BMU CTR is to provide information about clinical research studies to the public, researchers, and health care professionals. BMU CTR is run by the university, not by any government, and the Registry Office does not review or approve the safety and science of the studies listed on this website.
BMU CTR:
- Relies on sponsors or investigators to submit and update information about studies
- Lists up-to-date information on clinical research studies and their results
- Records each study using the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) Trial Registration Data Set, and submits its data to the WHO ICTRP
- Supports policies that expect sponsors and investigators to register clinical trials before they start and to publicly share information about them, including results
Does Bangladesh Medical University approve the studies listed in the BMU CTR database?
No. Bangladesh Medical University and the Registry Office do not review or approve the safety and science of the studies listed in the BMU CTR database. Each study is reviewed and approved by an ethics committee (also called an institutional review board, or IRB) chosen by the study team; the ethics approval is recorded on the study record. Bangladesh Medical University does not fund the studies listed on BMU CTR unless it is named as their sponsor or funder.
The Registry Office does a limited, quality-control review of the study information that sponsors and investigators submit to be included in the study record in the BMU CTR database. This review checks that the information is complete, clear and consistent; it does not judge scientific merit or ethics. Nothing is published until it passes this review. The study sponsor or investigator is responsible for the safety, science and accuracy of any study they list on BMU CTR. They are also responsible for ensuring that their study follows all relevant laws and regulations.
What clinical studies can be listed in the BMU CTR database?
BMU CTR lists studies that involve people, have health-related research questions, and follow ethics review and other health authority rules and laws. The BMU CTR database includes these types of studies:
- Clinical trials: research studies in which researchers assign participants to get one or more interventions (such as a drug, behavior, or medical device) to test what happens in people.
- Observational studies: research studies in which researchers simply collect information (called data) from participants or look at data that was already collected. The data may be about participants’ health, habits, or environments. In observational studies, researchers do not assign participants to get an intervention. If there is an intervention, participants were already using it as part of their regular health care or daily life.
Learn more about types of clinical research studies on the Learn About Studies page.
Expanded access
BMU CTR also lists expanded access. Expanded access is a possible way for a patient with a serious illness who is unable to take part in a clinical trial to get an intervention (such as a drug or medical device) that isn’t approved for treatment. Expanded access is not available for all interventions being tested. The study record includes who to contact to learn more. Read more in the Expanded Access Data Element Definitions.
Is every research study listed in the BMU CTR database?
No. Sponsors and investigators list studies in the BMU CTR database based on policies or by choice. Policies around the world, including those of the World Health Organization and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), have set the expectation that clinical trials be listed on public registries, such as BMU CTR, before the first participant is enrolled. BMU CTR policy requires interventional trials to be registered prospectively, before the first participant is enrolled; from 1 January 2027, this applies to interventional trials seeking ethics approval in Bangladesh. Few policies require sponsors and investigators to list observational studies on public databases.
For research studies that aren’t required to be registered by policy, sponsors and investigators can choose to submit to BMU CTR or not. If they choose to list the study on BMU CTR, they must keep the study record up-to-date.
Learn more about the rules for submitting studies on the Clinical Trial Reporting Requirements page.
Who submits information about a clinical study to the BMU CTR database?
Study sponsors and investigators submit the information to BMU CTR through the Protocol Registration System (PRS), using a PRS organization account. Sponsors and investigators are responsible for ensuring that their studies follow all relevant laws, regulations, and policies. Learn more on the Submit Studies page.
Who else is involved in BMU CTR?
- The Registry Office at Bangladesh Medical University runs BMU CTR, approves PRS organization accounts, carries out the quality-control review of each record, assigns BDCTR IDs, and sends registry data to the WHO ICTRP.
- Sponsors and investigators enter, update and are responsible for their study records and results.
- Ethics committees (IRBs) review and approve studies before they begin; BMU CTR records their approval on the study record but does not replace it.
- Medical journals that follow ICMJE recommendations expect clinical trials to be registered in a public registry before enrollment begins; a BDCTR ID shows that a trial has been registered.
- The WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform collects records from registries around the world, including BMU CTR, so studies can be found in one place.
What information about clinical studies can be found in the BMU CTR database?
The BMU CTR database includes information about clinical research studies that are happening now, will happen soon, or happened in the past. Information about each study is permanently available in the database, even after the study ends.
Information submitted about the study can be viewed in one place, called the study record. Each published study gets a permanent BDCTR ID (for example, BDCTR-2026-000001). Each published version of the study record is also permanently available in the record's History of changes. A study record includes:
General information about the study:
- Study name and description
- Person or organization responsible for the study (sponsor or investigator)
- People or organizations that fund or provide support for the study
- Disease or health problem studied
- Start and end dates
- Locations
- Ethics committee approval
Specific information about the study:
- Who can and cannot join (eligibility criteria)
- How many study participants are needed
- A description of the intervention(s) that may be given (such as a drug, medical device, or behavior)
- What researchers want to learn and how they will measure it
- How to contact the study staff
Some, but not all, study records contain more information, such as:
- The study protocol, analysis plan, and informed consent form
- What researchers learned from the study (results)
Does BMU CTR include information about study results?
Yes, the Summary results section of a study record may include study results. The study sponsor or investigators submit summary results through the PRS. When results have been posted for a study, they appear in the Summary results section of the study record as a new version of the record. For help finding results in a study record, see How to Read Study Results.
Study results are in a table format and include:
- A description of the groups of participants who joined the study and their traits, like their average age – it doesn’t include any information that could identify an individual participant (or any individual participant data)
- Findings from the study
- A summary of any health problems (adverse events) that happened during the study
Study results do not include any conclusions or interpretations of the results. For more information, see How to read each section of the study results.
Registry Office staff review study results to make sure they are clear and informative before being posted. Registry Office staff do not review for scientific accuracy. The study sponsor or investigators are responsible for making sure the results are accurate and complete before they submit them.
The study sponsor or investigators can also submit links to publications (papers in scientific journals) related to the study. These links are included in the study record, if provided. Registry Office staff do not review or oversee the publications.
Why was BMU CTR created?
Bangladesh Medical University created BMU CTR so that clinical trials conducted in Bangladesh can be registered prospectively — before the first participant is enrolled — in a public registry that follows international standards. Registering a trial before it starts makes it possible to see which studies are being done, what they set out to measure, and whether their results are shared.
BMU CTR follows the WHO ICTRP Trial Registration Data Set and submits its records to the WHO ICTRP, so studies registered here can be found alongside studies from registries around the world. This helps people consider joining studies, helps researchers avoid unnecessary duplication, and supports transparency in clinical research.
Read more about the Clinical Trial Reporting Requirements of BMU CTR.