Who Ictrp MCP Server

@pipeworx/who-ictrp

WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (trialsearch.who.int): one search across ClinicalTrials.gov and the WHO primary registries (ChiCTR, jRCT, CTRI, IRCT, DRKS, ANZCTR, ISRCTN, EU CTR/CTIS and more), plus the WHO Trial Registration Data Set for any one trial. It is the practical way to find Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Iranian trials next to the rest.

Part of Pipeworx — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1867+ live data sources. This is an independent, unofficial integration — not affiliated with, endorsed by, or published by the upstream provider.

Tools

• ictrp_search({query?, condition?, intervention?, sponsor?, registry?, recruiting_only?, limit?}) — trials matching a free-text query (titles, conditions, interventions, with WHO synonym expansion) and/or condition / intervention / sponsor fields. Each row carries the trial id, the source registry (code and name), recruitment status, registration date, whether results are posted and the ICTRP record URL. registry keeps only one source registry (ChiCTR, CTRI, IRCT, DRKS, jRCT, CT.gov, …). A search with no matches returns total_trials: 0 with the query used.
• ictrp_trial({trial_id}) — the full record for one trial by its registry id: source registry and its record URL, titles, primary sponsor, status, study type and design, phase, countries of recruitment, conditions, interventions, outcomes, eligibility, sample size, dates, funding sources, secondary ids, ethics review status. An id ICTRP does not know returns found: false.

Every response carries data_as_of (the time the portal was read). ICTRP itself refreshes from the registries weekly; ictrp_trial returns last_refreshed_on for the record.

Use alongside clinicaltrials (the US registry's own API, richer for NCT trials), isrctn and anzctr.

Auth

Keyless.

Data sources

• https://trialsearch.who.int/Default.aspx — free-text search (ASP.NET postback).
• https://trialsearch.who.int/AdvSearch.aspx — field search: title, condition, intervention, primary sponsor, recruiting status.
• https://trialsearch.who.int/Trial2.aspx?TrialID=ChiCTR2400080001 — the public record page for one trial.

The portal has no JSON API. Things the next person would otherwise rediscover:

• Search is a WebForms postback. GET the page for its __VIEWSTATE, __EVENTVALIDATION and the ApplicationGatewayAffinity cookies, then POST the whole form back with TextBox1 + Button1=Search (basic) or the ctl00$ContentPlaceHolder1$txt… fields + btnSearch (advanced). Posting a control the page did not render (e.g. a page size on the first POST) fails event validation and 302s to /NoAccess.aspx.
• Page size is a second postback. __EVENTTARGET=DropDownList1, DropDownList1=100 (basic) or ctl00$ContentPlaceHolder1$ddlPageSize (advanced). 100 is the maximum.
• The advanced search renders no pager, so a field search returns at most the newest 100 trials; the response says so in note when there are more. The basic search pages with __EVENTTARGET=GridView1, __EVENTARGUMENT=Page$N; with a registry filter the tool scans up to 5 pages (500 trials).
• The result count wording changes: "407 records for 385 trials found" vs "1 trial found". A record is one registry entry; a trial groups the entries that cite each other as secondary ids.
• Country is not filterable. The advanced search's country filter is a two-step listbox postback and its free-text box did not change the result count when tested (stroke: 18,749 records with and without "China"). Use registry for China/Japan/India/Iran, or ictrp_trial's countries.
• The XML/CSV export is not used. It sits behind an "I agree" to terms that restrict commercial use of the downloaded data; this pack only reads the public result and record pages.
• An unknown trial id answers HTTP 200 with the empty record template.
• Records include contact persons (names, addresses, phone numbers, emails), including the ethics committee's contact. The tool does not return them.
• Edge-probed 2026-10-09 from a throwaway wrangler dev --remote Worker: GET 200, search POST 200 ("407 records for 385 trials found for: psilocybin"), record page 200. No bot challenge on any of the three.

Quick Start

Add to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "who-ictrp": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/who-ictrp/mcp"
    }
  }
}

What this endpoint actually serves

tools/list at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/who-ictrp/mcp returns the tools in the table above plus the shared Pipeworx meta-tools — ask_pipeworx, discover_tools, search_within, remember/recall and the rest of the gateway-wide set. So the tool count you see is larger than this table: a single-pack endpoint currently lists roughly 30 shared tools alongside the pack's own. The connection's initialize response states its exact scope, and is the authoritative answer for a given day.

This is deliberate, not multiplexing by accident. The meta-tools are what let a scoped connection answer a question this pack does not cover — via ask_pipeworx, which routes across the whole catalog — without you adding a second MCP server. There is currently no way to mount a pack endpoint without them; if the extra schemas cost you more context than the routing is worth, connect to the full gateway once rather than to several pack endpoints.

Or connect to the full Pipeworx gateway to get every pack's tools listed directly, instead of just this one's:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pipeworx": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Both URLs reach the same gateway and the same 1867+ data sources. The only difference is which pack's tools are listed directly; ask_pipeworx reaches all of them from either one.

No MCP client? Call it over HTTP

curl -X POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/ictrp_search \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"condition":"stroke","registry":"ChiCTR","limit":10}'

No account needed for the first calls. Inspect any tool: GET https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/ictrp_search. Find one: POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_packs with {"query":"..."}.

Run it from npm

@pipeworx/mcp-who-ictrp is a local stdio bridge to the Pipeworx gateway: your MCP client starts it with npx, and it forwards every call to the same https://gateway.pipeworx.io/who-ictrp/mcp endpoint shown above. It needs network access; there is no offline mode.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "who-ictrp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-who-ictrp"]
    }
  }
}

Without a key it calls anonymously, capped at 50 calls a day. A free account raises that to 200 a day: get a key at https://pipeworx.io/signup and add "env": { "PIPEWORX_API_KEY": "<your key>" } to the server entry. The key is sent as a Bearer token, the same way a hosted connection sends it, so calls are metered and billed exactly as they are there.

It lists only this pack's tools by default. Set PIPEWORX_META_TOOLS=1 to also list ask_pipeworx and the other gateway-wide tools.

Behind an HTTPS proxy: Node's built-in fetch does not read HTTPS_PROXY by default. Newer Node releases honour it when NODE_USE_ENV_PROXY=1 is set; check your Node version's documentation.

Using with ask_pipeworx

Instead of calling tools directly, you can ask questions in plain English — this works on the pack endpoint above as well as on the full gateway:

ask_pipeworx({ question: "your question about Who Ictrp data" })

The gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.

More

• Docs and guides
• pipeworx.io

License

MIT