Anzctr

What Anzctr does

The Anzctr MCP server retrieves the public record for one Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR) trial. It accepts an ACTRN identifier and returns structured details such as titles, recruitment status, study phase and design, health conditions and codes, interventions, comparators, primary and secondary outcomes, eligibility requirements, planned enrollment, key dates, sponsors, funders, ethics committees, and secondary identifiers. Each response includes the time at which the registry data was read.

The integration is relevant to the Biology, Medicine and Bioinformatics category, particularly when research workflows need Australian or New Zealand trial data that may not appear in ClinicalTrials.gov. It is an independent integration and is not affiliated with ANZCTR or its upstream provider.

How it works

The principal tool is anzctr_trial({actrn}). The tool reads the public ANZCTR record page rather than a JSON API, because ANZCTR does not provide one. ACTRN values with a trailing letter are handled using their 14-digit portion. An ACTRN without a public record produces found: false.

The Anzctr MCP server does not provide a direct search tool. To locate trials, call ictrp_search from the WHO ICTRP pack with a query and registry: "ANZCTR", then use the returned ACTRN with anzctr_trial. ICTRP is refreshed weekly, so very recent registrations may be easier to retrieve directly when their ACTRN is already known.

Setup and configuration

Use the hosted streamable HTTP endpoint in an MCP client by adding https://gateway.pipeworx.io/anzctr/mcp as an MCP server. The README specifically shows Claude Desktop, Cursor, and Windsurf configurations. The hosted endpoint exposes the pack tool along with shared Pipeworx gateway tools, including routing and discovery utilities.

For a local, gateway-free setup, run npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-anzctr as a stdio MCP server. This local mode exposes only the pack's own tools and requires no Pipeworx account. The same tool can also be called through the gateway's HTTP endpoint with a JSON POST request.

Tools and capabilities

• anzctr_trial: fetches one public trial record by ACTRN.
• Returns study metadata, conditions, interventions, outcomes, eligibility, enrollment, dates, sponsors, funding, ethics information, and secondary IDs.
• Reports whether a requested ACTRN was found.
• Includes a data_as_of timestamp in every response.
• Supports hosted MCP, local stdio MCP, and direct gateway HTTP calls.

Limitations and notes

ANZCTR's search page uses an ASP.NET postback and may be blocked by a Cloudflare managed challenge. For that reason, discovery is routed through WHO ICTRP rather than an anzctr_search tool. The individual record page remains the supported source for retrieval.

Unknown ACTRNs may redirect to a notification page, which is represented as no public record. Records can contain contact names, phone numbers, and email addresses, but the tool does not return those contact details. The hosted pack endpoint also lists shared gateway meta-tools, while the standalone package lists only its own capabilities.