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Cortellis is a suite of life sciences intelligence solutions operated by Clarivate that integrates curated biomedical, clinical, regulatory, and commercial data across the biopharmaceutical development lifecycle. Used by research sponsors, biotechnology firms, and contract research organizations (CROs), the platform centralizes intelligence needed to assess pipelines, design clinical protocols, navigate global compliance, and evaluate trial feasibility.
What It Is
At its core, Cortellis is an enterprise data and analytics platform designed to support scientific and strategic decision-making from early discovery through post-marketing surveillance. Rather than serving as a public trial registry or single literature repository, Cortellis unifies structured clinical trials intelligence, regulatory guidelines, drug pipelines, patent records, and deal structures into an interconnected relational environment.
For research teams operating under stringent quality frameworks like ICH E6(R2) and the updated ICH E6(R3) good clinical practice standards, Cortellis provides contextual intelligence on historical trial outcomes, endpoint selections, and active competitor investigations. The platform serves as a critical asset during trial startup and clinical trial site selection, enabling sponsors and CROs to benchmark enrollment rates, evaluate investigator performance, and anticipate regulatory hurdles across multiple target jurisdictions.
Who Runs It and What It Covers
Cortellis is developed and maintained by Clarivate Plc, positioned within its Life Sciences & Healthcare (LS&H) reportable business segment (SEC EDGAR CIK: 0001764046, Form 10-K). Clarivate operates related research administration and citation platforms, including Converis (Clarivate) and Web of Science. Across the life sciences ecosystem, Clarivate’s LS&H solutions serve over 3,000 corporate, academic, and government client organizations globally.
The Cortellis environment is structured into specialized, modular intelligence domains:
- Cortellis Clinical Trials Intelligence (CTI): Integrates data across global trial registries, institutional announcements, medical conferences, and regulatory filings. It covers clinical protocols, inclusion and exclusion criteria, biomarker strategies, trial sites, investigator experience, and patient recruitment timelines across Phase I through Phase IV studies.
- Cortellis Regulatory Intelligence (CRI): Provides access to global regulatory documentation, health authority regulations, and submission pathways across more than 80 countries and territories. It includes side-by-side timeline comparisons for Marketing Authorization Applications (MAAs), clinical trial authorizations (CTAs), and adverse event reporting standards.
- Cortellis Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC) Intelligence: Focuses on pre-approval and post-approval submission requirements organized in Electronic Common Technical Document (eCTD) Module 3 structure, detailing local health authority expectations for small molecules and biologics.
- Cortellis Drug Discovery & Competitive Intelligence: Catalogs early-stage discovery targets, investigational drugs, pharmacological mechanisms of action, and patent lifecycles to assess competitive landscapes.
- Cortellis Deals Intelligence: Tracks biopharmaceutical licensing transactions, mergers, collaborative partnerships, and option agreements to inform asset valuation and external research partnering.
How to Search or Use It
Access to Cortellis is provisioned through institutional enterprise licenses. Users access platform intelligence through two primary delivery models documented by Clarivate: the graphical web portal and programmatic developer interfaces.
- Portal Authentication: Authorized users sign in via enterprise single sign-on (SSO) or institutional credentials through Clarivate’s portal interface.
- Defining the Search Objective: From the main navigation dashboard, users select the relevant intelligence domain—such as Clinical Trials Intelligence for study benchmarking or Regulatory Intelligence for submission compliance.
- Constructing Targeted Queries: Searches can be initiated using controlled vocabulary filters, including therapeutic indications, biological targets, drug mechanisms of action, development phase, or sponsor type.
- Applying Trial Feasibility Filters: In clinical operations workflows, researchers filter studies by geographical region, trial status, target patient recruitment volume, or specific biomarker stratifications to evaluate site feasibility.
- Benchmarking Trial Design and Endpoints: Users review completed protocols to extract proven primary and secondary endpoints, standard-of-care comparator arms, and historical adverse event profiles.
- Programmatic Integration via APIs: Development and bioinformatics teams access Cortellis datasets programmatically through the Clarivate Developer Portal. The Cortellis API Collection offers REST-based endpoints delivering structured data in JSON and XML formats for Pipeline Drugs, Companies, and Sources.
- AI and Server Extensions: Organizations leveraging automated intelligence pipelines utilize specialized Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, such as the Cortellis CRI MCP Server and Cortellis CCI MCP Server, authenticated using developer API keys.
Strengths and Limits
Understanding the operational strengths and structural boundaries of Cortellis helps sponsors and CROs deploy the system effectively within their clinical workflows.
Operational Strengths
- Comprehensive Data Harmonization: Aggregates disparate clinical registries, regional regulatory portals, and peer-reviewed conference proceedings into a single normalized data model.
- Cross-Functional Utility: Serves clinical research coordinators, regulatory affairs managers, medical directors, and business development leads through specialized intelligence modules.
- Standardized Regulatory Tracking: Provides clear cross-country regulatory comparisons and structured eCTD Module 3 filing requirements, reducing the risk of clinical trial authorization delays.
- Developer-Ready Ecosystem: Features robust REST APIs, automated data feeds (such as CDDI feeds), and AI connectors that allow seamless integration into proprietary internal data warehouses.
Platform Limits
- Commercial Subscription Requirement: Cortellis is a premium commercial platform requiring institutional licensing; individual investigators cannot access its content without organizational subscription coverage.
- Need for Independent Verification: While Clarivate employs expert analysts to curate data, regulatory submissions and clinical protocol designs still require direct verification against primary statutory texts and official health authority guidance.
- Complex Feature Footprint: The broad breadth of specialized modules requires formal institutional training to ensure search queries capture all relevant controlled terms and Boolean modifiers.
Alternatives to Cortellis
Depending on study phase, budgetary constraints, and organizational scope, researchers evaluate Cortellis alongside public repositories and alternative commercial platforms. When deciding between in-house execution and external vendor management, teams often review the operational tradeoffs outlined in the sponsor vs CRO model.
| Platform | Operator | Primary Data Coverage | Access Model | Core Role in Research |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cortellis | Clarivate Plc | Global trials, regulatory rules (80+ countries), drug pipelines, deals, patents | Commercial enterprise subscription / REST API | Integrated trial planning, feasibility benchmarking, and multi-market regulatory strategy |
| ClinicalTrials.gov | U.S. National Library of Medicine (NIH) | Public clinical trial registrations, study protocols, and reported summary results | Open access / Public domain REST API | Public statutory trial registration, transparency compliance, and baseline study discovery |
| Citeline (Trialtrove / Pharmaprojects) | Norstella | Commercial clinical trial tracking, pipeline intelligence, and investigator site profiles | Commercial subscription / API | Competitor trial monitoring, investigator feasibility analysis, and commercial intelligence |
| PubMed / MEDLINE | U.S. National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) | Biomedical literature, peer-reviewed clinical trial publications, and systematic reviews | Open access / E-utilities API | Primary peer-reviewed scientific evidence synthesis and literature review |
| EMBASE | Elsevier | International biomedical literature and pharmacological conference abstracts | Commercial institutional subscription | Pharmacovigilance monitoring, literature review, and adverse drug event discovery |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Cortellis Clinical Trials Intelligence used for?
Cortellis Clinical Trials Intelligence (CTI) is primarily used by biopharmaceutical sponsors and CROs to optimize clinical protocol design, benchmark enrollment timelines, identify qualified trial sites, and monitor competitive drug development pipelines across all clinical phases.
How does Cortellis Regulatory Intelligence support drug development?
Cortellis Regulatory Intelligence (CRI) provides research teams with access to regulatory guidelines, submission requirements, and approval timelines across more than 80 countries. It helps regulatory affairs professionals prepare clinical trial authorizations and marketing authorization applications with market-specific compliance data.
Can Cortellis data be integrated into internal company databases?
Yes. Clarivate provides the Cortellis API Collection, which delivers structured JSON and XML data feeds covering pipeline drugs, companies, and literature sources. Additionally, developers can utilize Cortellis Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers and automated data feeds for enterprise system integration.
Is Cortellis available to individual academic researchers?
Cortellis is an enterprise commercial platform. While individual personal subscriptions are generally not offered, researchers frequently access Cortellis modules through institutional library licenses at major research universities and academic medical centers.
Sources
- Clarivate Plc. Form 10-K Annual Report for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2025. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC EDGAR CIK: 0001764046), filed February 24, 2026. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1764046/000176404626000019/clvt-20251231.htm (read 2026-11-07).
- Cortellis Labs. Overview of Cortellis Life Sciences Data Products, APIs, and Data Feeds. Clarivate Analytics. https://www.cortellislabs.com/ (read 2026-11-07).
- Clarivate Developer Portal. Cortellis API Collection and Developer Documentation. Clarivate Plc. https://developer.clarivate.com/apis/cortellis-api-collection (read 2026-11-07).
- Harvard Business School Baker Library. Cortellis Database Resource Profile and Scope. Harvard University. https://www.library.hbs.edu/databases-cases-and-more/databases/cortellis (read 2026-11-07).
